The Capture of the Zydrate King
by LiteraryFaerie
Summary: It's been months since the Opera and Shilo has finally sought out help. But when Zydrate addicts start turning up dead, Graverobber is blamed and hauled before the new head of GeneCo. Can Shilo save him in time?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: chap. 1 added to because FF cut it off before i wanted. please feel free to re-read. chap 2 to come soon.  
Oh yeah! Disclaimer: i own nothing and only aspire to do justice to the wonderful characters D&T&D have given us. Hail the Illustrious Zydrate King!

Shilo shuttered as she looked blankly at her dealer's body where it lay crumpled on the ground behind the filthy dumpster with a bullet hole in his head. Since she'd found him a month after the Opera, her Zydrate dealer had been the only person she ever spoke to, even then they barely exchanged a word. Now he was dead.

_Perfect_, Shilo thought as she wrapped her arms tighter around herself and glanced around the alley to see if she was alone. She knelt down and sorted through his coat to see if there was anything left that she could use, he'd long since been picked over; his Zydrate, gun, and even his boots were gone, as she'd guessed. Shilo shrugged her tiny shoulders and hauled the ugly coat off the stiff corpse and wrapped it around herself to try and stave off the chill. She looked down at the man who'd been the closest thing to a friend that she'd had since her world had fallen apart. As a sign of respect for the criminal, she closed his lids over his blank staring eyes before brushing off her skirt and leaving the alley.

It had been a little over a day since her last fix and Shilo estimated that she could go maybe another day or two before she couldn't function without another hit. The only problem was that she'd stumbled across this dealer by accident. There was only one other that she knew of and the thought of him made her break into a cold sweat. In her mind she could still see his skeletal white face lit blue with the drug that was now the only thing keeping her sane.

The Zydrate king watched Ms. Sweet's bodyguards carry her out of the alley. With a single swift motion he grabbed a rag from the ground near where he was holding court and deliberately wiped the few drops of Amber's blood from the tip of the gun. Not a terribly health conscious person, he usually settled for wiping it off between selling spots or when things got slow to keep it in proper working order; but there was something bad in Amber Sweet's blood, something tainted that didn't need to spread.

Not even scalpel sluts deserved to be exposed to something that tainted.

He turned his attentions back to flirting with his subjects and shooting them full of glowing bliss while they filled his pockets with credits.

After a while, on a whim, he looked past the pawing hands and slack faces of his addict admirers; a slip of a thing caught his attention. It had barely made it into the alleyway before collapsing, a long coat spreading onto the neon-reflecting pavement. He gave the poor working girl an amused smirk; he looked at one of the addicts that was already coming down enough to be useful and with a sharp shift of his head sent him scurrying towards the fallen addict to carry her over. Looking around at his gathered junkies, he grinned,

"She's come all this way, but she didn't quite make it. Should I give her what she came for?" there was a mixed chorus of yeses and no's, but the general feeling seemed to be "if she can pay, let her play." The dealer laughed as he knelt beside the prone body and brushed the hair to the side exposing face and neck. He was surprised to discover that the hair brushed back in a strange manner, almost sliding off instead of staying rooted to her scalp. The white face that stared at him from the ground made him pause, the white face stood out sharply against her black hair and clothes.

_Shilo, where've you been kid? _

Shilo opened her eyes and found herself staring into the dark eyes of a living corpse. She started when it's mouth curved up in a half smile.

"What do you need, kid?"

"Graverobber…" her un-used voice grated the inside of her throat, making her cough sharply.

"At your service," he gave her a little bow as he removed one of the glowing vials from inside his coat and waved it a little in front of her face, "is this what you want?" she tried to croak out a yes, but her throat was too dry, so all she could was nod. "First hit's free, kid." He said as he pressed the cold tip of gun into her exposed neck and blue sparks exploded in her brain.

The world came back to Shilo in layers: her sight became sharper, the blurry shapes and colors became people and objects again; the roaring echo in her ears sorted itself out into voices and background noises. A sharp laugh from Graverobber came to the forefront of her attention as she started to sit up. She looked around for him, a slight agoraphobic panic hitting her directly in her chest, needing her stabilization. He seemed to be discussing something with a skinny boy with bright red and purple spiked hair. Shilo shakily started to sit up, without taking her eyes off Graverobber or his shorter companion. The boy acknowledged her first and motioned her to the dealer, who turned and watched her guide herself to her feet, supporting herself on the building beside her.

"Feel better?" he asked, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Whether he was still amused from what the boy had said or if he was silently laughing at her, Shilo wasn't sure, either way she started walking towards him anyway, hand firmly planted on the wall of the building so she wouldn't trip and fall. The boy laughed, catching Graverobber's attention again before continuing to speak.

"So that's what she's been up to from what I hear."

"Honestly, you and I could run GeneCo better then she is, business meetings during the day, surgeries at night."

"'nd somewhere in between, still manages ta come see you fera hit of glow, right?" The boy laughed.

"Speaking of, ya got yer cash?" the boy nodded and reached into the pocket of his ragged looking leather pants. He passed it over and Graverobber unholstered his Zydrate gun and shot the boy just over his prominent collarbone, causing the boy to let out a small noise as he closed his eyes dreamily.

"Yes." Shilo finally answered, voice still harsh and raspy from lack of use, as they watched the boy drift lazily down the alley. "Thank you." She added softly.  
"Finally found your cure, huh?" was all he asked.  
"I guess so. It does the job." He gave her a sly look out of the corner of his eye; Shilo took no notice, her eyes were fixed on the brightly clad addicts that still littered the alley. If it were at all possible, she looked even smaller then she had on the holoscreens the night of the Opera, but then grief mixed with rage always makes people stronger. But without rage as a buffer, grief just eats people alive.  
"What job is that?" he asked like he didn't already know the answer. It was just as interesting, if not more so, to find out what she thought.  
"Forgetting."  
"I could have helped you with that sooner, didn't I offer?"  
"That wouldn't have helped."  
"How so?"  
"Because you make it real."  
"You had reality issues before the Z didn't you?" she looked confused, but her eyes never faltered. "First you're shocked and surprised to find I'm actually a real person, now I make things too real?" It made sense, but did she understand what she was talking about.  
"Without seeing anyone it's easy to not know where I'm from or what's happened, everything goes just one day at a time. No present, no future. You're the only one who brings it all back, makes me remember that I have nothing."  
"Yet you still came and found me."  
"I needed Zydrate."  
"I taught you how."  
"Needle through a bug…" she hadn't come completely down from her high yet, making it easier to drag these realizations from her without her pesky emotions getting in the way.  
"Exactly. Are you sure you weren't looking for something else?"  
"Closure, companionship."  
"Change the world?"  
"Chase the morning."  
"Can you do that alone and addicted to glow, just like the bitch head of GeneCo?"  
"No."

Graverobber smiled to himself, almost to easy.

_Why are you bothering?_ A voice in his head asked.

_It's a challenge, and she's a damn site more interesting to talk to than Amber._

_And she's cute?_

_It helps. _He chucked a little at the banter inside his own head, then he heard Shilo's gasp of surprise. He followed her gaze to one of his scalpel sluts sitting on the stairs of the fire escape, feet dangling into oblivion. She was leaning heavily on the banister and Graverobber noticed that there was a pool of blood forming on the ground beneath her. Still heavily in the numbing embrace of her glow, the girl was calmly watching herself bleed to death.

"What the hell?" He muttered to himself. He crossed the alley in only a few strides and hauled himself straight up to where the girl was, not bothering running all the way around and using the stairs. He dragged her further back on the stairs so he could check where she was bleeding from, her fishnets catching on the rusty metal and tearing. The blood was gushing though new surgery stitches in a way that put Graverobber on edge. But before he could figure out just what had been botched, the girl's heart stopped.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A much more alert Shilo scampered after Graverobber, her still slightly Z-laced mind buzzing with the excitement of the last few minutes.

"Does that happen a lot? The body rejecting their new organs like that?" she asked, she'd often wondered the same thing while comparing her father's medical journals to the GeneCo ad's on TV.

"It's been happening a lot more frequently in the last few months."

"Really?" Shilo was almost running to keep up with his long strides. The farther they were from the newest body in Zydrate Alley the better.

"No, kid, I'm lying to you." He retorted sarcastically. Shilo's steps faltered and slowed until she'd dropped a few paces behind him.

"You don't have to be mean, Graverobber." She sounded hurt, _damn it._

_Now you did it,_ he scolded himself.

_Shut up._

"Kid, I…" he glanced behind him only to find that she'd stopped dead about a block back and was staring at something in an adjunct alley. "Now what the hell'd she find? Bloodhound for trouble, I swear…" he muttered to himself as he went back to collect his wayward stray.

Shilo had frozen in her tracks when she'd caught site of the refuse in the next alley. Her eyes were fixed on the incisions but her mind was far away,

"Daddy…" she whispered, she felt hot tears welling up behind her eyes. In the back of her head she realized how strange it seemed that the sight of a mutilated corpse sparked tender feelings of her father, but it did. Could he have lived even after she left the opera house? Did the Largo's have him as their captive, their trained pet, killing and collecting on command? Amber had never mentioned anything about it in either of her letters, but why would she? So that she could loose her pet monster?

A warm hand enclosed around her upper arm, Shilo started and swallowed a small scream before she realized that it was merely Graverobber.

"You didn't really think that they wouldn't replace him, did you?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"So it's not my…"

"Sorry, kid. I could put out the feelers to find out where they've got his body though, if ya'd like." Shilo ignored the few hot tears that escaped her eyes,

"Thank you…" Graverobber tugged her arm a little, then half turned to walk away.

"Yeah, well… let's go kid, I don't wanna be found next ta this body anymore then the other."

"Should we move him closer to the road like we did with your junkie?" Shilo asked, wrapping her arms around herself and turning towards the dealer.

"No, I did my good deed for the evening, they care more about taking out the repossessions, so if we dragged the girl to the road, they'll have to pick her up. Him, they'll be looking for." She finally looked behind her and looked at him, "Are you coming?"

"Where are we going?"

****

"You have got to be kidding me."

"Nope, invite me in."

"Why?"

"Because. You'll always feel like I'm invading if you don't."

"You are invading!"

"With permission, though."

"Are you sure about that? I don't remember saying 'hey, let's go to my house!'" Graverobber smirked at Shilo,  
"Think of it this way, kid, we had two choices; my place, which lets face it doesn't exist. Or, your place," he waved his arm at the large house behind the intimidating wrought iron fence.  
"How did you know I still lived here?"  
"I knew."  
"How?" he just looked at her, the half smirk on his face and one eyebrow cocked, "Why can't we ever do anything I actually want to do?"  
"Maybe we will." _Don't say it, don't say it, don't even think it, _his mind warned him. "But for now, you're no fun."  
"Am so…" Shilo said in a fake sulkily voice as she unlocked the front gate. _I would LOVE to see how much fun you are, kid.  
I told you not to think it. You've opened the floodgates now, asshole._  
Graverobber ignored the pushy voice in his head and stood on the sidewalk, bag in hand, staring at Shilo, who was staring back at him with her back pressed against the gate to hold it open.  
"Well?" she asked, looking at him with her eyebrows raised. He copied her expression, but said nothing. "You're waiting for me to actually invite you, aren't you?"  
"Duh."  
Shilo sighed deeply before, "Come in, Graverobber."  
"Thanks, kid. Now really, was that so hard?" Shilo just shook her head and locked the gate behind them before leading the way up to the house. As she mounted the stairs Graverobber couldn't help but slow, eyes fixed on the hem of her little skirt, in hopes of getting a glimpse of panties.  
_Told you so_, the voice said smugly.

"What exactly are you so worried about, kid?" Graverobber said, vaguely annoyed as she searched through her keys to find the one for the front door. "Haven't you had enough of locks for one lifetime?"  
"I live here alone, Graverobber, and half the time, I'm mellowed out on Z.I can't be too careful."

"Yeah, actually you can be." He muttered as she finally opened the door and led the way inside. Once inside the home of the former Repo-man, Graverobber let out a low whistle; the night surgeon was apparently loaded.

Behind him, positioned on a chair, Shilo was attempting to turn off the alarm, but as she tried to get back down the chair bucked towards the wall (had there been a booted foot involved? he wasn't telling) and Graverobber quickly snatched Shilo out of the air, she landed with one of his hands poised "innocently" just under the hem of her skirt.  
"Gotta be careful, kid." He chuckled as he set her on her feet, nothing in his voice or face giving away the fact that his whole body was on fire.

_You, sir, are a real piece of work, ya know that?_

_Do I have to remind you of our choices here? Amber…or Shilo. _

_Be that as it may, I think you're doing it wrong. _

_Fine, what do you think I should be doing?_

_How the hell should I know? You forget I'm merely a figment of your bored imagination and a continuation of your common sense. _

_Fuck you. _

"Well?" Graverobber hid his surprise when Shilo's face had gotten close to his,

"Well what?"

"Are. You. Hungry?" she said it slowly and carefully like she was talking to an idiot. She laughed a little and wandered back into what he assumed was the kitchen where she disappeared around the corner. _I am hungry, actually, but not…_

_Oh would you stop?_ Graverobber growled at himself as he followed the path Shilo had taken and leaned against the doorframe watching her sort through the cupboards,

"Wha'dya got?"

"Not much right now actually…it's not that I don't eat because I know how much harder the Z 'll hit me if I don't. But sometimes I just…don't want to." She paused staring at the counter for a moment, before snapping out of it and continuing to pull things off the shelves. "Are you allergic to anything?" trust the doctor's kid to ask that one first,

"Nothing I've eaten so far 's killed me."

"Is there anything you don't like?" Graverobber thought about it, food wasn't really an experience to be enjoyed, but a necessity. Still…

"Eggplant." Shilo turned and looked at him, eyes and mouth laughing, like he was crazy.

"Well I think you're safe. I don't think I've got any eggplant."

*****

_What kind of self-respecting over-protective father of any merit buys his daughter such skimpy clothes and then lets her parade around in them?_

Graverobber had been sitting at Shilo's kitchen table watching her with rapt attention as she moved around the kitchen and over the last half an hour his pants felt like they'd shrunk about three sizes. His stomach growled loudly when she opened the oven to remove whatever she'd put in there, his lust spiked when she bent to slide the tray out.

_Blue! For the love of god her panties are Zydrate blue! I told you I was supposed to be here, it's like a sign._

_I never said you weren't supposed to be here with her, I just said you're acting like an animal. _

He was once again jerked from his thoughts by Shilo's arrival with a plate of food. The plate was heaped with what looked like some kind of pasta covered in a thick white sauce with maybe chunks of some kind of meat in it with a pair of nice warm rolls on the side.

"Ya didn't need ta bring it ta me too, kid." She smiled as she sat next to him, her own plate with a smaller portion in front of her.

"Don't get used to it, but first night warrants guest status. Hence the fancy dinner 'nd the full service. After this yer half on your own."

"Fine, but I'll clean up."

"Alright." They ate in silence for a while until Graverobber looked up at Shilo,

"How'd you get to keep this place?" Shilo finished chewing and swallowed before answering, Graverobber fixed his eyes on her throat as she did, imagining something else making that throat work like that.

"About a week after…the opera, I received a letter with the GeneCo label on the envelope. It was a memo from Amber saying that if I kept a low profile and never fought her for control of GeneCo she'd make sure that my bills were paid to the right people on time and every so often a small envelope of bills shows up in my mail box."

"So you made a deal with the devil."

"I never actually made a deal, she sent all these things to me without my ever saying a word."

"Sneaky."

"I thought so." She took a few more bites before she asked him softly, eyes never leaving the plate, "Will you stay?"

"What?"

"Will you stay here? I'm tired of being alone…" mentally, Graverobber was nearly doing back flips, this was exactly what he wanted. Not only could he keep an eye on Shilo and continue to work his magic on the little girl, but he also got a warm dry place to sleep and the occasional home cooked meal. All he did was contentedly slide his plate away and lean back in his chair.

"Sure, kid, I'll stay."


	3. Chapter 3

After they'd cleaned the kitchen and Shilo had put away the food, she suggested a tour. Graverobber stifled a chuckle as she lead him from room to room, little did she know he'd been here before. When he'd come and decided to take Marni's corpse back to GeneCo, he'd taken the time to wander around a bit, though he'd only gotten to the lower level when he heard Repo start raging down below. Frankly it was the upstairs he was more curious about, but he reasoned that bringing up the fact that he'd broken into her house and stolen her mother's preserved corpse out of it's place of honor in the wall and then later tried to convince her to harvest the Zydrate from her might put a few snags in his plan.

As they moved towards the stairs, Graverobber felt something twist around his ankles. He managed to stop himself from falling by grabbing the banister and gracefully pulling himself around and sitting on a step, although he landed a bit harder then he'd originally intended. Shilo smothered a giggle as Graverobber regarded his obstacle.  
A fluffy black cat sat at the foot of the stairs, staring up at him with bright yellow eyes that seemed to say, _I know what you're doing, human, tread carefully._ Graverobber glared at the animal as he got to his feet and pretended to straighten the lapels of his jacket.

"Damn cat." He muttered under his breath. Shilo tapped his arm in fake anger,  
"Be nice to 'Tilla." She said as she bent and lifted the cat into her arms, Shilo settled her, feet down, up under her chin as she pet the cat and cooed.  
"Tilla?" he asked,  
"Atilla."  
"As in the Hun?" Shilo nodded,  
"I thought it was cute, and fitting. She's my little demon, aren't you?" She cooed at the kitten, it scrambled to get out of Shilo's arms. She glanced up at Graverobber's face, then balked at his expression, "What?"  
"Issues, kid, that's all 'm gonna say." Shilo stuck her tongue out at him as she walked past him up the stairs. Graverobber half turned and watched the expanse of pale leg stretched because of the heels on her tiny boots and the very slight sway of her ass.

_Too hot for your own good, kid._

_And she doesn't even know it._

_Wait, are you agreeing with me?_

_Yes._

_Why?_

_Because not only am I you so I enjoy the view as much as you do, but for the last three hours all I've been able to watch is the Shilo Karma-Sutra slideshow going on in the back of your mind. _The truth made Graverobber laugh out loud, which caused Shilo to turn and look down at him from the next landing.

"What's so funny?" there were so many things that he could say, many that would most likely get him kicked right outside on his ass, SOL style. Finally he settled on,

"Nuthin', kid, nuttin at all."  
"Then are you coming, or are you going to sleep on the stairs?" Graverobber smartly stretched his legs out across the stairs and pretended to get comfortable. "Okay, stay right there then. I'm headed to bed. Goodnight." She twiddled her fingers at him as she walked out of sight. He folded his hands behind his head, crossed his ankles and waited. Less then three minutes Shilo came back into sight, stocking footed, "Come on, you're not going to sleep on the stairs." Graverobber smirked to himself as he got up, stretched and followed her into her room.

His first thought when he entered was that it looked like a dying person's room in a high-end retirement home. The dark four-poster bed had plastic sheets that surrounded it, Shilo had yet to move any of the medical equipment that her father had used to take care of her away from the bed. It was all just unplugged and sitting next to the head of her bed as if waiting for her to get sick again. There was even half a bottle of Shilo's "medication" sitting on top of the heart monitor. Everything in her room was dark except for bits of bright white like the blankets on her bed and the curtains on her window.

There was an empty frame hanging above the mantle and a smaller picture of who Graverobber assumed was the infamous Nathan and most likely Marni, the cause of all the trouble.

"I like that one better, it makes her seem less like a saint and more like my mom." Shilo said following his gaze. He nodded and continued his own visual tour.

"Do you have something against colors, kid?"

"No, why?"

"It's very monochrome in here." Out of the corner of his eye, Graverobber noticed that she was still standing by the door, hands behind her back as she alternated between looking at his back or staring at the floor. If it was possible she looked even smaller and younger as she stood there awkwardly in her stocking feet. "What?" Then she muttered something that sounded vaguely like, "It's stupid" and stared at the ground as it seemed all the available blood in her body was pressed into her cheeks. He just looked at her, not going to ask what again, but knowing that she knew exactly what he wanted. Shilo muttered something that he couldn't hear, but when he crossed his arms, leaned his weight back on one leg and just stared at her, she sighed deeply, whimpered to herself.

"You're…you'rethefirstguyI'vehadinmyroomandIguessI'mmalittlenervous!" she blurted out quickly, than covered her face with her hands. Graverobber smirked and stalked towards her while her face was still hidden. His heavily booted feet strangely didn't make a sound on the hard wood floors. Sneaking up behind Shilo he put his mouth very close to her ear,

"Should I do something to make you nervous?" he whispered huskily, she started in surprise, but she jumped backwards into Graverobber's waiting arms. He grabbed hold of her as tightly as he dared with one arm, while he teasingly played with the neckline of her shirt with the other.

"G-grave…" Shilo whispered,

"Shh, kid." He muttered as he ran his hand along the skin of her neck then slid it down towards the collar of her shirt. Shilo gave a little whimper when he passed under the white fabric and cupped one of her breasts. Graverobber was thrilled to find that little Shilo wasn't wearing a bra and attempted to take full advantage of that fact. When his fingers found one of her nipples, she made a small noise so strangled that he couldn't tell if it was a moan or a sound of nervousness. It took all of Graverobber's control not to moan in Shilo's ear, his whole body was on fire. Shilo arched her back into his chest and gave another whimper before she tore away from his grip and scampered over to her bed, fixing her shirt as she went.

"I think it's time for bed… " She whispered breathily. She gave him wide berth as she slipped past him, out the door, and down the hall before he could say or do anything. "Dad's room is open and clean." She said softly without looking at him, her cheeks that deep pink color.

"Kid…"

"Goodnight Graverobber." She said softly, then scurried back into her room and closed her door. With a frustrated growl Graverobber entered the room, slammed the door, then stopped dead. Here he was in the room of the most feared Repo man in history, with a raging hard-on for his precious little girl.

_Shit. What did I get myself into this time?_

_Don't know, pal, but I do know you've gotta serious problem._ Graverobber sat down heavily on the bed and vainly attempted to press down his "serious problem".

_Yeah._

_Just try ta go to sleep in the raging sociopath's bed, the same one that your current obsession was probably conceived in, and have kinky lust-filled dreams about her._

"I really fuckin hate you." Graverobber snapped at himself; even though he knew it was pointless, he pulled off his holsters, boots, coat and shirt. He stretched out on the large bed and folded his hands behind his head.

*****

Graverobber wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep or quite what he was dreaming about, all he knew was when he woke up, he was rock hard and attempting to thrust his way through the mattress. Frustrated, he flipped himself onto his side and took a relatively clean rag out of one of the pockets of his jacket and took care of his continuous problem, unfortunately it barely took the edge off.

_Why me?_

_Why her? _His mind countered,

_How the fuck should I know? I don't even know why I don't want the kid addicted to Z! _

_But you don't want her on it._

_Weren't you listening? No I don't. Don't ask me why though; it might actually be a quicker means to an end. _

_Kid runs outta money, agrees to screw you for glow?_

_Might be easier then this torture._

_Too easy. _

_What? _

_That'd be too easy; it's more fun this way. _

"Why do I always end these introspective "conversations" wanting to kick my own ass?" he muttered to himself. All of a sudden there was a scratching sound at the closed door, "Can't a man argue with himself in peace in this house?" he growled.

There was a chittering meow from the hall and Graverobber heard Shilo whispering,

"Tilla! Leave him alone, let him sleep. Tilla, there's no reason for you…" the door swung open about half a foot and a small dark shape darted into the room and leapt up on the bed. The cat wandered up and sat down on Graverobber's chest and looked at him, she bent forward and sniffed at his face, tickling his bottom lip with her whiskers. Graverobber shut his eyes the second he heard the door squeal again as Shilo followed her kitten into the room. "Tilla… get back here…" He heard the slight whisper of her bare feet across the wood floor, the bed dipped on his side as she leaned over and plucked the slight weight of the cat off his chest. It took all of his will power not to reach up and pull her against him, but he'd scared her badly just a few hours ago, but if he wasn't careful she could just kick him out and try not to look back. The weight left the bed and the kitten chittered again. "I wonder if he'll be hungry when he wakes up? What should I make, my girl?" Shilo asked,

"Why don't you ask him?" Graverobber asked without opening his eyes,

"How long have you been awake?" he shrugged, she sighed, "Well, would you like breakfast? I could make French toast, or pancakes, or something." He opened his eyes and looked at her with a sigh,

"Kid, I'm a complicated man with simple tastes. Do you have bacon or something?" Shilo thought for a moment, then shrugged,

"I might, if not there's a corner store near by and I can get some." Graverobber half sighed and half yawned as he sat up and leaned against the headboard as he stretched. He glanced at Shilo and her eyes were all of a sudden round as saucers,

"A-Are you naked?" Shilo squeaked,

"Hm?" Graverobber glanced down, his pants were undone and the blanket had fallen to just the right spot so that it did in fact look like he was naked. He gave Shilo a devilish grin, "Wanna find out?" he asked suggestively, Shilo's pale face flushed brightly and this was the first time he realized she was still in her night gown, a short little white number only a few shades lighter then her skin with red trim and lace up around the throat. The hem rode high on her little thighs, drawing his gaze as if it were the same eye-catching colors as his Z-addict's clothes.

Graverobber stifled a moan, and before he could stop himself he'd cupped the back of Shilo's head and kissed her firmly on the mouth, a chaste kiss really, but one that set him on fire yet again. He felt Shilo lean into the kiss and sigh a little. He moved his other arm around and pulled her close to him, completely forgetting about the kitten still clutched in Shilo's now limp arms. When Graverobber's chest came too close to Shilo's and started crushing her, Tilla let out a little yowl and scrambled out from in between them, leaving behind several deep scratches on Graverobber's bare chest. He sucked in his breath with a hiss of pain and had to pull away from her to make sure he wasn't going to bleed on her pretty nightgown. Shilo actually whimpered when he left, but she seemed to come to her senses and scooted away.

"I'll go get dressed and see about the bacon, want anything with it?"

"Got 'ny eggs, kid?" he grimaced a little when he saw the deep red gashes across one pec, two of which were seeping blood already, one of which came dangerously close to piercing his nipple. "Damn cat. " he muttered as Shilo left.

******

Twenty minutes later, Graverobber was walking down the stairs, his pants were done up but his shirt hung open around his chest reveling his half-assed bandaging job. The sound and smell of bacon filled the house and there was the chattering of voices coming from the living room. Slightly confused he stuck his head into the living room and the TV greeted him, the two news anchors yakking away about some nonsense. Shilo was humming one of Mag's songs in the kitchen as she put the already cooked bacon into the oven to keep warm.

"TV loud enough, kid?" he teased her, she turned and smiled sheepishly at him,

"Sorry, it's habit. For months the only people I heard talk on a regular basis was Bob and what's-his-face."

"What's-his-face, huh kid? You two seem real close." He paused and looked at her in mock seriousness, "Should I be jealous?" Shilo giggled and began scooping out scrambled eggs out onto a plate for him, she added bacon and a pair of biscuits with butter to the edge of the plate and deposited it in front of the chair he'd sat in for dinner. He sat down as she fixed her own plate and settled down with a glass of milk in front of her. "Thought you said I was on my own after dinner last night?"

"Maybe I lied."

_Maybe she likes taking care of you._ The thought had the exact opposite effect all his other thoughts had, it was like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on him. He wasn't the type of man who needed taking care of; he took care of himself and kept himself the distant observer.

_I'm not a home and hearth type of person. _

_Does she seem like your typical Suzie Homemaker to you?_ The image of Shilo in one of her short black skirts with a little red apron and a lace front white shirt flooded his mind. He chuckled to himself as he tucked into his breakfast.

"What's so funny?" Shilo asked, sitting down.

"Nutin' kid." The image switched to Shilo dressed in nothing but that little red apron and he almost moaned aloud again. _Why do I torture myself?_

_I'm bored._

_You suck. _Suddenly something the news was saying behind him caught his attention.  
"…death tolls of back-alley Zydrate addicts may be related to the recent passing of prominent actor, Victor Lewis. In other news-- "

"That's it?" Graverobber growled, stabbing at his eggs, annoyed.

"What's it?" Shilo asked, looking slightly frightened at his sudden change in attitude.

"My clientele are dropping like flies and the only coverage is a 'Beware of …something' piece in the Slice and added mention in relation to that pretty-boy faggot."

Shilo smiled as she thoughtfully chewed her own biscuit; she swallowed before speaking,

"It almost sounds like you care about them."

"I care about myself, kid, and there's something out there, where I work and live, that's killing people from the inside. There's always gonna be more addicts, but there's only ever gonna be one me."

"And it's driving you crazy that you don't know what it is, isn't it?" Shilo asked, she'd ducked her head to concentrate on her food, but she hadn't looked down quick enough to stop Graverobber from catching sight of the hurt look on her face.

_What's she upset about, now?_

_She's one of those addicts that there'll always be more of, remember?_

Oh shit…

_Yup. Way. To go. Asshole._

_Once again, fuck you. I'm trying over here, once in a great while; something is going to slip my mind. _

_Sometimes I think you should just slip your mind, just let it go!_

_Am I this much of a condescending asshole to everyone?_

_Most of the time._

"How bad is Zydrate withdrawal?" Shilo asked suddenly, voice quiet.

"Why?"

"Because you were right, if you actually told me that I couldn't change the world like Dad told me to while I'm addicted to Z."

"Yeah, I actually told you that." _Nearly sang it to you._

"So, how bad is it gonna be?"

"It's gonna hurt, kid, a lot."

"Great. Just great…"


	4. Chapter 4

"Don't worry, kid, I ain't gonna make you do it alone."

"Why not?" she sounded like she didn't believe him.

"Yer a good kid 'nd pain's always easier with someone there."

"Who was with you?"

"Whoever was around," he answered evasively.

"Sounds lonely." Graverobber shrugged and finished his food. "I can't really get you to talk, can I?" she asked.

"What do ya mean, kid?"

"I mean that whenever you say anything, its just words. None of you is behind it, no information or feelings other than sarcastic humor." She sounded annoyed.

"Dunno what yer talkin' about, kid." She stood up from the table and put her plate in the sink,

"Of course you don't." she walked into the living room and flopped down on the couch next to where Tilla had decided to sprawl herself.

"Kid--"

"I don't know if I want to talk to you right now."

"Wha'd I do?"

"What part of I don't want to talk to you right now, didn't you get?"

"The part where I screwed up 'nd you won't tell me where?" Shilo stood up and tried to face him down, failing due to the foot or so height difference.

"You are infuriating!" she yelled before heading to the stairs. He listened to her boots on the stairs and sighed, frustrated he followed her, muttering under his breath about women.

"Kid?" he asked pushing her door open.

"Go away." She whimpered into her pillow. Graverobber pushed the plastic curtains to the side; Shilo was half crushing a stuffed purple and blue turtle under her, while she pressed her face into the white fabric.

"No."

"Are you ever going to listen to me?" she asked miserably, lifting her face and looking at him. There were tears in her reddened eyes and her cheeks were pink from crying.

"Prolly not," he answered reaching over to wipe at her tears with his thumb,

"I really hate you…" she sniffled.

"No you don't."

Shilo sighed and sat up, folding her legs under her and clutching her turtle. She stroked its fuzzy head and didn't look at him,

"Does it ever get easier?"

"Does what get easier?" he asked, leaning back on his elbows and getting comfortable.

"Being alone…" he knew she needed real reassurance right now,

"There's a point where you don't really think about it anymore."

"What about those other times?" she looked at him; he just shrugged and shook his head. She sighed deeply,

"I can't do this…I don't know anything!"

"You know plenty, just not first hand."

"Exactly! I'm useless…" she whimpered miserably. Swallowing an annoyed growl Graverobber muttered,

"Come 'ere, kid." He told her, she hesitated, "I'm not gonna jump ya right now, kid. Just come 'ere." She lay down next to him and he put one of his arms around her, after a few moments she seemed to let all of her tension out in a deep sigh. She was tiny in his arms, almost too tiny.

"What am I going to do?"

"Take it one day at a time, kid."

"What, that 'carpe diem' stuff?"

"No, that cause-if-you-don't-it-will-slowly-squeeze-the-life-out-of-you-so-you-can-barely-get-out-of-bed-in-the-morning stuff."

"Oh…" Shilo said softly, she snuggled closer to him and her eyes finally landed on his already loose bandage, "she get you bad?"

"Naw, I'm a big tough Graverobber, it takes more then an attempt at my life by a little repo-cat to phase me." He assured her, she giggled.

Graverobber found himself lightly stroking the ends of Shilo's hair, enjoying having her close by and not terrified or anything. They were quiet for a long time before Shilo whispered to him,

"Do you like me or something?"

"Why would you ask that?" A flush crept over her cheeks,

"You kissed me… and last night…"

"Yeah kid, I like ya er somethin'." He teased lightly,

She propped herself up on her elbows and stared at him,

"Did I just get a straight answer out of Mr. Evasive?"

"Oh, I'm not that bad."

"Oh, yes you are." Shilo and the voice in his head assured him in sync.

_Jeeze, gang up on me why don't you?_ Shilo retreated to the head of her bed and sat on her pillows under the poster of Mag.

"Why would you like me?" she asked. Graverobber sighed; he hated having to explain himself. He rolled over and picked up her abandoned turtle and crawled in front of her. He bopped Shilo in the nose with the head of the toy, which made a rattling sound every time he shook it.

"What would you say if I told you that I think your more beautiful then any of Amber's faces?"

"I'd ask you if you'd been drinking." He chuckled,

"What would you do if I told you that, to me, you're the sexiest person who's ever set foot in Zydrate Alley?"

"I'd ask you what you're smoking." He laughed,

"What would you do if I told you that I wanted to take you here and now? Mark your neck so dark the whole world knows you're mine." He crawled closer as he spoke, voice getting softer until he was up close whispering in her ear.

"I'd…" she gulped a little, "I'd be convinced that the Zydrate King is crazy and dipping into his own stash." _Brave little Shilo…_ Graverobber chuckled deep in his throat and nuzzled his face against her neck,

"What's the matter, kid? Am I making you nervous?" unable to resist anymore he drew a thin line back down her neck with his tongue and nearly moaned aloud. She was so clean! No taste of dirt, sweat and make up, no cloud of noxious perfume invading his senses, just Shilo. She let out a breathy little moan, then pulled away a little,

"What about Amber?" she asked,

"What about Amber?"

"Aren't you in a relationship with her?" This actually made Graverobber throw his head back and laugh, hard. Shilo crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a slightly annoyed look,

"What's so funny?" still chuckling he bent and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth,

"Kid, there's no such thing as a 'relationship' with Amber Sweet; there's a quick fuck in a back alley while she pretends she's in charge, even when she's on her knees begging me for glow." Shilo's eyes were a little wide as she looked at him,

"Oh."

"I never knew I was into cute, kid, till I met you."

"I didn't know anything about the world until I met you."

"You know, kid, yer just like Z. you're quick," he tapped a finger on her temple, "You're clean, " he ghosted his face past her neck again before stopping to hiss in her ear, "and you're pure…" he felt a shiver run through her,

"I changed your life…" she whispered,

"You did, you did." The second the words left his mouth, Graverobber wished he could take them back. Shilo drew away and got very still, she tried to cover her sadness by saying,

"Not all girls like being compared to drugs you know…"

"Aww, but kid, it's so beautiful, just like you." She gave him a look that said she thought he was being an ass _again._ "Where'd that smile go?" he bent in and whispered in her ear, "How can I get it back?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He smiled to himself and kissed her solidly on the mouth, when he pulled away he saw a tiny, completely smitten smile creep across her face. He chuckled lightly as he crawled off the bed and pulled her curtains aside.

Darkness was gathering and he was ready. He half turned and looked at Shilo, still curled on her bed, "Hey kid, wanna be my lookout?"

*****

"What is your real name anyway?" she asked him as they walked along the cobblestone path.

"Does it really matter, kid? Would it make me different then I am?"

"I don't know."

"Would you be different if I called you Nancy?"

"I would, I'd be pissed." She gave him that look again, Graverobber laughed as he pulled his next host from its stone bed.

"Would this poor fool do anything different if I called him…" he regarded the stone, "George? Hello, George," he greeted the corpse, "I'm going to shove this needle deep into your skull, any objections?"

"Stop!" Shilo cried as he drove the syringe home, "How can you be so cruel?"

"I'm not being cruel, kid. I'm making a point." He pocketed George's Zydrate and tossed him back into his sarcophagus before marking the headstone with a bit of charcoal.

"What point is that?" there were tears in her voice,

"That what you call something doesn't make a damn bit of difference concerning what it is." He started walking, for a second he was almost sure that she wouldn't follow, but after a second he heard the patter of her boots on the stones, "Another example, Carmella Largo, Amber Sweet; same person, same attitude, different name."

"Why did she change her name?"

"She's an idiot."

"You screwed her," Shilo countered smartly,

"But I didn't try to have a long educated discussion with her, that would be stupid." He paused to heave open the next stone coffin, "Girls like Amber are good for only a few things: a couple bucks, a few quick fucks-- "

"And running multi-million dollar companies?"

"Anyone ever tell you yer kinda mouthy?" Shilo just smiled sweetly at him.

They walked in silence for a while, Shilo watching up and down the streets while Graverobber pillaged the dead and made small marks on their stones.

"Why are you doing that?"

"So that I know I emptied it already." He turned and looked at her over his shoulder, "What, kid, you thought I was so good I could remember one stone from another?"

"Well…I…I guess I never thought about it…" he chuckled to himself as he started to pack his bag back up. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Shilo's dark eyes fixed on the holster at his hip, the fresh Z glowing brightly against the worn leather. He heaved his bag over his shoulders and straightened, pulling a vial from his side and pretending to idly play with it; all the while he watched Shilo closely.

Her eyes never left the vial.

"No, kid, remember."

"Remember what?" she asked softly as he flicked the drug from one hand to the other.

"No more Z."

"Please?" she whispered. He slipped the vial back into its place and let his coat fall over it, hiding its glow.

"No." he started to turn and walk away, he felt something tugging at the tails of his coat. Shilo was on her knees, hands buried in the fabric, eyes pleading with him.

"Just one more… I'm scared, Graverobber. Please?"

_What's one more gonna—_

_You know better then that jackass, one more leads to two to three until she's more hooked then she was when she had to go find her fucking dealer, you will not make it worse by staying in her house!_

"Get up, kid, you've got more dignity then that. You're stronger then this," he waved the vial in front of her face once again before it disappeared into the folds of his coat again. "This is nothing, pretty shining nothing."

"I don't wanna feel nuthin' at all…" she muttered, eyes never leaving his hip except to stare into his eyes and plead her case there.

"Tough." He nearly snapped, "It's what makes us different then our buddy George back there. Life is pain, pleasure, and everything in-between, anyone who says otherwise is selling something." He held a hand down and helped to haul Shilo to her feet again; there were impressions of the stone she'd been kneeling on imbedded into her knees. Shilo ducked her head a little, seeming to be embarrassed by her addiction,

_Well good, that makes things easier._ Graverobber reached out and squeezed her shoulder supportively once, then took up the lead again.

They walked off without saying a word, simply shadows on the headstones.

Graverobber discovered that there was a problem with bringing the kid with him; usually she was companionably quiet, but when she had a question she just wouldn't shut up until she got a satisfying answer or got so pissed at his evasiveness and teasing that she "refused to talk to him".

"How can you do what you do?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're defacing the dead. These are people!"

"They were people, kid, were."

"What do you mean?" she echoed him,

"Whatever made them human, made them alive, is long gone. They aren't people anymore, kid, they're things."

"They're somebody's loved ones!" he knew her mind was on her own mother, her father, Mag.

"No, they're just bodies, kid, husks."

"How can you say that?" he sighed, it was easier when he didn't actually care, lies were more effective when the person didn't have any real interest in him or his answers at all and he didn't care enough about their approval to make them good lies.

_You know there's a give and take with this, you can't keep the girl and all of your masks and walls, buddy. You gotta give her somethin' so she doesn't toss yer lying ass out on the street._

_I can't. _

_Bullshit, I think I'd know whether or not you can do something. I'm not sayin' write her a life story, genius, I'm just saying that you've gotta give her tidbits every so often._

"Kid, I can say that cause it's true."

"I still don't think it's right…"

"Did I say you had to?" she fell silent beside him. Thankfully she stayed quiet for maybe ten minutes and actually played lookout. She knelt just behind a tombstone near the road and gave him a tiny whistle if she saw anyone coming. It didn't take long before he realized to ignore all her tiny whistles; she was just jumping at shadows.

As he yanked the next corpse to the ground when he heard Shilo make a small noise behind him; Graverobber was sure he heard her whisper,

"Ooo, bug!"

He tried to force down a chuckle. _Some lookout. _Leaving the body where I'd finished with it, Graverobber crept up behind where Shilo was crouched inspecting one the the glowing corpse bugs that infested the bone yards. When she didn't acknowledge that she'd heard him, he grabbed her around the waist tightly and pulled her back roughly,

"What are you doing here, kid?" he growled deeply, changing his voice enough that Shilo screamed for him.

"Graverobber!" she shrieked,

"Yes, kid?" he asked in a normal tone; she whipped around in his arms, then whacked him in the chest with her small fists when she saw that it was only him holding her captive,

"You bastard! You scared me to death." On a reflex her hand moved from checking her heartbeat at her chest to pressing against her wrist. "What was that for?"

"Grave robbing is not a sport for little girls with ADD, kid. Pay attention, because next time it might not be me."

"Don't scare me like that…" she growled.

"Don't make it so easy." He countered and started walking again.

"Speaking of easy, shouldn't there be more Genecops?" she asked, hurrying to keep up with him.

"Not really, Amber gave each of her brothers their own personal patrol to follow them around and cover up any trouble they get in, so patrolling cemeteries has gone back burner for her. Image is everything, kid."

"Wow… that's actually all I have to say to that, just wow." Graverobber chuckled, "You do know that it's really creepy when you do that, right?"

"What? Laugh?"

"That deep-in-the-back-of-your-throat chuckle."

"Yer a smart-ass, kid."

"You're the one with the melodramatic bad-guy laugh. You gonna tie me to the train tracks next?"

"Don't tempt me." Graverobber looked ahead of them, scouting for the timed sweeps and a dark shape ahead caught his attention. Without letting Shilo know he was doing it, he steered them towards it.

Yup, it was exactly what he'd thought it was. "You don't see that every day, do ya, kid?"

"You do."

"Not empty ones." Shilo slowed and approached it cautiously like a kitten with a new toy,  
"Empty how?"  
"Empty like I think Zydrate might be the only thing left in it." Graverobber said, lifting a flap of slightly decaying skin.  
"Was it a repossession?"  
"Nope." He heard Shilo's voice get a little higher with nervousness,  
"What the hell do you mean 'nope'?"  
"This was not a repossession, somebody tore with girl open after she'd been here for a while. Hollowed her out like pumpkin." He turned his head and watched Shilo's face contort into a look of absolute disgust and a little shutter went through her,  
"Why?"  
"Don't know. Wanted to be a doctor?" Shilo gave him a blank look, "That's what old grave robber's did, came in a practiced medicine on the dead." Shilo's blank look when to one of recognition, then she gave him that "you're an ass" look again. He decided to tease her more, "See, kid, grave robber's can be whatever they want doctors, surgeons--"  
"Drug dealers."  
"I apparently have to keep you around, kid, I might get an ego without you."  
"I have to keep you in your place."  
_She didn't just say…  
She did, just leave it alone.  
But…!  
No. Try to focus on the corpse in front of you; this might have something to do with what's killing your clientele.  
Are you sure?  
Do I look like a nickel fortune-telling machine to you? I know what you know; just sometimes you're just too thick to listen. In either sense of the word. _


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you sure you wanna do this, kid?" Graverobber asked her as they strode between the buildingsand further into the dark.

"I don't want to go back to the house right now…" Shilo answered; since they'd found the empty corpse Shilo had been sticking closer to him, looking into the shadows like whoever had taken the woman's organs would pop out for her at any second.

"Okay, kid, but if Amber shows up, hide. Fast."

"I believe it was you who told me this once: 'duh'."

"Try not to insult me while I'm dealing, kid, it's bad for business to be outdone by a twelve-year-old."

"I'm nearly 18." Shilo said, giving him that look again.

"Coulda fooled me."

"I really wish I could hate you." Shilo muttered to herself as she fell a few steps behind him. Graverobber just hid his smirk in the shadows.

Zydrate Alley fell nearly silent when the two of them appeared from the darkness. The only noise came from speakers hidden in one of the buildings; the backbeat was all there was, Zaddicts thrived on noise, "music". Graverobber could feel dozens of pairs of eyes fixed on him, or rather on the faint blue glow he knew was visible in the dark recesses of his coat. He met each gaze that caught his own squarely, almost daring them to do something (even Graverobber wasn't sure what he wanted them to try); but no one ever took the invitation. All at once something changed, a flicker ran through the group, and in an instant Graverobber knew what it was.

All eyes had fallen on Shilo.

Though they were (partially synthetic) humans, Graverobber could almost see the female Zaddict's backs arch and hear them hiss like alley cats when Shilo's face registered in their slackened minds. They'd seen her three times now, twice attached to Graverobber at the hip. The third time she'd been visibly marked by the same glowing brand that damned them. Graverobber felt Shilo inch just a bit closer to him,

"Easy, kid," Graverobber muttered so quiet that Shilo pressed up against his side barely heard him. One of the girls finally worked up the courage to saunter over to where he stood; Shilo safely tucked half behind him.

"You're late." She scolded him, failing to completely keep the tremor of nerves and desperation out of her voice,

"Worried?"

"Hardly…" she started to wrap her arms around his waist, fingers inching towards the holster on his thigh.

"Nice try." Graverobber said, grabbing both her hands and squeezing her wrists until she gave a little gasp of pain, however she tried to play it off like she knew just what he was going to do,

"It was worth a shot." She tried to get away, but Graverobber pulled her in close and hissed into her ear,

"Don't **ever** try to steal from me, bitch." He growled, no threats, intimidation was enough. These were really just little girls playing dress-up in their big sister's clothes. Graverobber half threw the girl to the ground as the others crowded around him, scrambling to get their hit before his anger peaked. Credits clinked together in his pocket as the Zaddict's moans ebbed and flowed with the whine of the gun.

One little girl with scarlet and aqua dreadlocks and a little purple leopard print skirt that didn't cover her ass fell to her knees with a saucy little look and grabbed at his main belt buckle. Graverobber grabbed the back of her neck making it seem he was egging her on until he got a good grip in the tangles of the back of her neck. Just as Shilo was making a small noise of protest, Graverobber jerked the little whore's head back so she was looking at him,

"What are you doing?" he asked in a tone that didn't match the fact that his fingers were buried painfully into the girl's hair.

"I…I…" she stammered, "I don't-t h-h-have any m-money…"

"I'm in no mood for this 'other ways to pay' bullshit tonight, cash only." The girl shot Shilo a seething look of hated,

"What's the matter, Graverobber? Spending too much time robbing cradles instead of robbing graves? Does the Zydrate King's little whore wanna play?" she asked, half crawling towards Shilo as she got to her feet.

"No thanks, I'm trying to cut back on the insta-slut juice." Shilo quipped bravely as she retreated against the wall.

"Big talk from someone who was jonesing so hard yesterday they couldn't even walk into the alley." The girl continued, not seeing Graverobber coming up behind her.

He grabbed hold of the Zaddict's upper arms, his face a blank mask, he twirled the little scalpel slut into the nearest wall, pressing her face into the stone as he held himself flush with the back of her.

"If you really think she belongs to me, what made you think that harassing her was a great idea? He hissed in her ear.

"I…um…" the girl stammered,

"Get out of my sight." Graverobber shoved her to the side; not hard, but enough that she lost her balance on her high heels, causing her to fall to the ground and show the whole alley exactly what she wasn't wearing. "Anyone else have any problems they'd like to discuss with the class?" Graverobber turned his attentions to the others. There were a few staggered shaken heads and a few brave "no"s.

When they finally left the alley, Graverobber swept Shilo into the shadows with an arm around her waist and a possessive hand on her hip. Two things became obvious about Shilo as he held her, the first being that she was more then happy to be away from the alley, but she wasn't quite sure how she felt about him holding her quite so closely.

"I couldn't have taken much more…" she whispered finally.

"What do ya mean, kid?"

"If I had to watch you shoot one more girl full of glow I was going to throw myself between her and the gun. I want it so bad!"

"Remember, kid, pretty, shiny nothing; that's all it is."

"Easy for you to say." She paused and actually snuggled a little closer to him, "Have you ever taken Zydrate?" she asked timidly.

"No."

"Why not?" he shrugged,

"Don't want to, saw no reason to."

"You can't tell me you weren't curious." He folded his arms across his chest,

"Not really, it makes a slave of you, kid. Then watching a few people who go though the actual withdrawals…"

"Please don't talk about that…"

"Why not?"

"Because I'm scared."

"And not talking about it will calm your nerves?" she sighed and her tiny shoulders slumped a little,

"I guess not." Those three words made it evident that the last few months had just come crashing down on her. Graverobber turned her a little and pressed her gently against the wall, he tipped her face up so she could look at him.

"Yer not allowed ta be sad like that, kid, remember yer my special little vial of Z." she looked up at him, a tiny smile on those damn kissable lips,

"Are you addicted to me, Grave?" Her tone was playfully flippant, but her words floored him.

Gods damnit!

It was true, since the first night he'd seen her she was never far from his thoughts and now he couldn't keep his hands off of her either. He pulled away from her like he was listening at something, avoiding the question.

"What is it?"

"Nutin', thought I heard somethin'." She looked nervously into the shadows and caught the edge of his coat in one hand,

"Maybe we should head back."

"Alright, kid, let's go."

******

Graverobber was starting to get worried about the kid, she was starting to look paler then usual and she wasn't talking at all. The night before she'd gone straight to bed when they'd gotten back, now she was just kind of sitting in her room, curled into herself watching TV. He stood just outside her room for the millionth time that day, watching her through her partially open door, this time he finally knocked on the door lightly,

"Hey, kid?" there was a tired sounding grunt that he took as an offer of entrance, "Ya alright?" she shrugged a little and whimpered in discomfort as she scooted over to make room for him at the foot of the bed. The plastic curtains crinkled as he shoved them to the side and sat down beside her. Shilo just sort of flopped against his side when the bed dipped under his weight, it didn't seem like there was any strength in her limbs at all. "Kid?" he actually had to wave a hand in front of her face to get any spark out of her at all, it was almost like she was deeply strung out on Z.

"What?"

"Ya alright?" she snuggled into his shoulder a little,

"I don't feel good, Grave…"

"What doesn't feel good, kid?"

"My tummy hurts…" she moaned, sounding as much like the little girl as she sometimes seemed. Shilo slipped off his shoulder and lay her head in his lap, snuggling against his thigh. Feeling a little awkward, more used to seduction then comfort, Graverobber put one of his hands on her hair and began stroking it, the calluses on his hands catching every so often on the strands. She relaxed against his leg and actually made a little noise of contentment. Graverobber smirked to himself, apparently he was better at this then he thought, he slid his fingers deeper into her hair, marveling at how soft it was. After a few passes however, his fingers snagged on a tangle near the bottom and without realizing it he pulled her hair.

But instead of hearing a small yelp of surprised pain, Graverobber felt the tangle slid along with his fingers. He looked down in confusion and saw the part in her hair had slid down nearly to her ear and Shilo was starting to try to sit up. Her face was flushed a deep crimson as she tried to sit up and fix her wig at the same time, but she didn't realize that Graverobber's fingers were still half tangled in it and she only succeeded in pulling the wig off the rest of the way.

It fell onto the bed beside her and Graverobber could see tears of embarrassment and frustration welling up in her eyes. Weakly she grabbed at the wig and started to right it, but Graverobber put a hand on her arm; she gave him a desperate look. True there'd been a momentary shock when her hair had slid off her scalp, but once it was over it didn't faze him at all.

"It was Dad's medicine…" Shilo whimpered as she settled the wig on her head, "I'm sorry…"

"What exactly are you apologizing for?"

"I'm…" he put a hand over her mouth before she could continue,

"Say ugly and I head for my own bed tonight." He cupped her face in one hand, temporarily marveling at how his hand could cover more then half her face, "Kid, yer beautiful, it's the cross you have to bear. Hair er no, yer hot as hell 'nd yer gonna hafta live wit that. Sorry." She glared at him, fixed her hair one more time, and lay her head back down on his lap.

"For the record I think you're full of shit, incase you were wondering." Graverobber chuckled to himself, he slid his arm under her knees and skimmed her up the bed and laid her down with her head on the pillows. She gave a tiny squeak of surprise, but settled gratefully against the feather pillows now that they were under her head. She looked right at him, "Lay down with me?"

"Sure, kid."

******

The next few days dragged on, the kid got sicker and Graverobber started to feel more and more useless. There was really not a whole lot he could do, when he wasn't working he was doing whatever made sense to keep the kid feeling better. Once Shilo was almost confined to her bed, the first thing he did was take the monitor that waited at her bedside and moved it to the far side of the room.

Graverobber wasn't sure exactly what to do to try and keep Shilo as well as possible. When he was sick all he did was pop aspirin like a sonnovabitch and put on a "nothing can touch me" face for his public. But he did his best, going on pure common logic; the kid was hot, keep her cooler; kid was freezing, warm her up. it should have been simpler then it was.

Silently (and more times then once out loud) Graverobber cursed Amber's non-existent soul to the fiery pits of an imagined hell; if it wasn't for her gods-be-damned Zydrate Support Network with their sharp ears and grabby hands, he could have taken the kid to at very least a free clinic. But no, the second any of the ZSN agents got wind that there was a little girl, no less The Little Opera Girl (as the Evening Slice had so aptly dubbed her when it ran its occasional stories of sightings much like the ones next to those with titles like "Aliens abducted my husband" and "Elvis is in my shower") showing signs of Z withdrawal there would be no keeping her safe.

For the next week or so Graverobber rarely left her side, only to harvest, sell and occasionally sleep. She had a roller coaster time of it, some days she was sitting up in bed, nibbling on a piece of toast and teasing him, the next she was curled up in a ball in the middle of her huge bed whimpering to her dead father.

_Gives new meaning to the phrase "call me daddy" doesn't it? _

_Shut up, I'm in no mood for your games right now._

_Yer just testy because the kid's got you acting like a faithful dog and yer not the big bad badass anymore. The God of Glow's been reduced to a whimpering bitch boy._

_Fuck you, she's sick…_

_And you're guilty._

_I never gave her the first hit!_

_No excuse, Zydrate comes inna little glass vial, remember? Com'er kid lemmie teach ya ta do drugs. _

_I tried to teach her what not to do!_

_Failure._

_Fuck you!_ Graverobber actually growled aloud,

"Graves?" Shilo's soft voice actually scared him,

"Easy, kid."

"Graves, what happened?"

"Ya've been sick, kid, but yer gonna be alright." He brushed his fingers against her face catching a strand of hair that had fallen. Then he watched in horror as she arched into his hand and moan like he'd caressed something much more intimate then her cheek. A flicker of fear lit in Shilo's eyes,

"What was that?"

"Out of the pan and into the fire, kid."

"What?"

"Yer not gonna really be sick anymore, but yer gonna pay fer not feelin' nothin' at all ten-fold."


	6. Chapter 6

"What do you mean?" Shilo sounded very nervous,

"Don't trip." He said simply as he cupped her face in his hand again and brushed his thumb across her cheekbone and Shilo's back actually arched and she let out a breathy little sound that made a predatory smirk spread across Graverobber's face.

"I-I still don't u-understand…"

"You know how nice this feels now as opposed to usually? Imagine what would happen if you stubbed your toe or gods forbid tripped down the stairs."

"So I'm under bed arrest. Again."

"It's fer yer own good, kid." Shilo crossed her arms and wouldn't look at him; she just stared dejectedly at the other side of the bed.

"It's always for my own good."

"Have I ever lied to you before?"

"Everybody always does."

"Am I everybody?"

"No…" she sighed deeply, "how long?"

"Dunno."

"Why not?"

"Because everyone I've seen get to this point gives up before the week ends." Shilo gave him that "I-really-want-to-hate-you-right-now" look; the fact that her cheeks were still unhealthily flushed and her eyes too shiny just made it all the more pointed.

"Thank you, that makes me feel so much better about this, really."

"Relax, kid, ya hungry?" Shilo just shook her head and curled up under the covers again. Suddenly she kicked at the comforter until it lay crumpled at the foot of the bed, her little face screwed up in discomfort,

"When did my comforter turn into sandpaper?"

"When the hypersensitivity aspect of yer withdrawal kicked in."

"You have an answer for everything don't you?"

"If I don't, I reserve the right to make one up." Shilo rolled over trying to get comfortable on what was once a very comfortable bed,

"I think you get off on making shit up," she muttered to herself, barely loud enough that Graverobber could hear her. It took a lot of long practiced control for Graverobber to pretend he hadn't heard her and not laugh almost hysterically at her snide remark. She had a point of course, but why let her know and spoil the fun?

******

_You're so excited about this; I think I'm going to be sick._

_I'm not that excited, it's just a great idea, and she'll feel better. Little girls like this kinda shit. _

_Sap. Yer just a sucker fera little girl who looks like a corpse aren't you? _

_I don't know what you're talking about. _

_Course not, just head upstairs and show yer little mistress what you've brought her. _

_Woof woof, bitch. _

"Kid?" Shilo was sitting up in bed her plastic curtains drawn back so a large glass topped box across her lap was clearly visible as was an encyclopedia spread on the bed in front of her. Graverobber flinched a little as he watched her pierce a long thin needle into the little bug that lay on its bed of cotton, "Kid, what made you assume long, pointy, sharp things were a good idea?"

"You have no idea how bored I am."

_Cause corpses are such great conversationalists._

"Yer right, I don't, but I picked these up for you for being such a great sport about all this." With a flourish Graverobber reveled what he had hidden behind him.

The bundle was perfect all pale pink roses and startlingly white lilies against the bright green leaves; Shilo let out a little gasp and reached her hands out for them.

"Graverobber… they're beautiful…" she whispered causing him to glow a little with pride at his choice. But her next words made his blood run a little cold, "There's even a card!"

_Fuck. _Before he could even think about stopping her, Shilo pulled the little piece of card stock from the stems and looked at it, "Condolences on your loss?" Shilo paused and looked at him, "These were just sitting on someone's tomb weren't they?"

"What do the dead care for flowers?" he asked quickly and for a split second she looked like she was going to argue but she ran her hand across the pretty blooms again, a few of the pink petals from the roses came loose and fell over the bugs.

"You're right." She said petting the flowers again, right before Graverobber could feel even the slightest bit happy about winning the argument, Shilo gave a little scream and dropped the flowers. She clutched at her hand and let out little whimpers of pain, Graverobber sat down heavily beside her and grabbed her wrist. There was just a single drop of blood on the side on her middle finger. "Why…" she whimpered, tears thick in her voice.

"I warned ya, kid. Here, lemmie see." 

"It shouldn't hurt this bad… it's just a nick…" she whimpered as a few tears escaped her tightly shut eyes and slid down her cheeks.

"Just relax, it's just pain, it'll pass." With only a few lecherous thoughts he guided the side of Shilo's finger into his mouth, catching her blood and giving the flesh a little suck. Almost instantly Shilo's whimpers quieted and rose to moans, Graverobber smirked a little into her hand as he allowed himself a few more nips and suckles before releasing her hand and giving the panting girl a wolfish grin, "Pain's gone." Was all he said.

******

A while ago Graverobber had snuck in to check on Shilo, only to find the little girl sleeping with her TV still on. Not wanting to spend too much time in Nathan's room, because frankly the thought was still just wrong, Graverobber settled down on the floor at the foot of Shilo's bed, stretching his long legs out in front of him. With a simple shift of his Z-gun holster, he settled back against the bed with an annoying crinkle of plastic and settled in to catch up on the news that the Slice decided wasn't interesting enough to report on.  
Suddenly Graverobber felt the bed dip behind him and the plastic curtains crinkle; Shilo slid a leg on either side of his shoulders.  
"Graverobber…" Shilo whispered in his ear as she pulled his hair to one side.  
"Yes, kid?"  
"Can I have just one more hit? Please?" she pressed herself tightly against his back so she could caress his gun with her ankle, her pale flesh striking against his dark pants.  
"Yer so close, kid." Graverobber pushed her away and stood up, but she followed him, crawling off the bed and across the floor,  
"I can't do this… it hurts, please? I can pay."  
"I don't want yer money, kid." Without a thought she grabbed hold of one of his belt buckles eerily the same way the Zaddict had a few weeks ago.  
"Fine! I know what you want…" Graverobber grabbed hold of her shoulder and hauled her up, trying to ignore how alluring she was kneeling in front of him.  
"Gods damnit, kid! Yer not a Zaddict." Shilo pouted a little and stepped forward, one hand resting on the space of bare chest with her fingers entwining in the hair there. She stood on her tiptoes and started kissing her way up his neck; Graverobber closed his eyes and suppressed a moan. The excruciating, exhilarating little kisses were torture, but the little hand that was caressing his hip was getting close to his Z-holster that wasn't quite empty despite his night of selling. "Don't do this to me, kid."  
"We both know you want me…" Even through the worn leather Graverobber could feel one of the vials being lifted free, which worked like a subtle slap to the face. He gave Shilo a little shove and took two steps back,  
"The only time ya'll touch me is if there's glow in it for you, is that it? The ends will justify the means, right?"  
"I never said that! But it gets yer whores what they want and you won't give it to me for anything else."  
"Because I give a shit about you!"  
"Why? At this point I'm just like them anyway!" Graverobber growled deep in his throat and ripped his gun from its holster and held it in front of Shilo's face as he pressed her back against the wall.  
"Is this all you want? Nothing else, right? It's all about the glow, it's always about the fucking Z!"  
"How am I any different? I'm willing to fuck you for it now." Just hearing her talk like that tore something inside him; with a strangled cry he actually threw his gun on Shilo's bed in disgust.  
"That's exactly the problem…" he muttered as he turned away. He felt her tiny hands on his wrist as she whimpered,  
"I'm sorry, it just hurts so much…I can't take it." When he looked back at her, she looked ashamed and there were unshed tears in her eyes, were they from remorse or pain when he slammed her against the wall?  
"Everything passes, kid." She nuzzled her face into the sleeve of his shirt,  
"I'm not strong enough for this…"  
"Kid, you stood up to all four Largo's at their scariest, withdrawal should be a walk in the park fer you." She hid her face in the space between his arm and his chest and actually wailed,  
"I just tried to fuck you for a hit! Does that sound like someone who can handle it to you?" Graverobber tried to put an arm around her shoulders and comfort her, but Shilo actually shoved his arm off and stepped back, eyes flashing.  
"Why the hell do you care anyway? I'm nothing, no better than one of your Zaddicts so why don't you treat me like one?" it was both a challenge and a plea.  
"I don't know, kid, all I know is I haven't been able to get you out of my mind since I met you!" Shilo turned her seduction back on again, she glided towards him with a tiny little smile that almost didn't belong there playing on her lips  
"Well maybe if you just treat me like you're whore and shoot me up it'll go away, like the pain…" Graverobber grabbed her gently around the throat and brought her ear really close to his mouth as he hissed,  
"You just don't fuckin' understand do you? I couldn't live with myself, kid." His hand never leaving her throat, Graverobber started circling Shilo, trailing his fingers across her skin. "I deface the dead on a nightly basis, it doesn't bother me. I fuck Amber, 'nd it only bothers me a little bit. I shoot idiotic children up with a glowing drug I get from the brains of corpses on a nightly basis and it doesn't bother me. But if I shoot you up again, 'm gonna care. 'm really gonna fuckin' care."  
"H-how do I know this is-isn't a tri-ick?" Shilo gasped out, "How do I know you care?" Graverobber drew her back flush against the front of his body, ran his tongue up her throat and growled in her ear,  
"Because if I didn't care I would have shot you up and fucked yer little virgin brains out by now." He actually felt Shilo quiver against him,  
"W-w-why a-am I s-s-so specia-al?" she whimpered out.  
"Because I love ya, kid. Duh."

******

The night of selling had gone quickly and Graverobber was taking a little while to just be away from the house. After his confession Shilo hadn't done the teenaged girl thing of never leaving him alone and hanging all over him; rather she'd been running hot and cold all week. One second she'd sneak into Nathan's room and curl up beside him while he slept, the next she'd lock herself and Tilla in her room and refuse to come out for hours on end. Not to mention the hypersensitivity was getting worse, Shilo had stubbed her toe on the coffee table two days before and she cried like she'd broken it.  
Graverobber climbed up on the nearest dumpster and, temporarily ignoring the bodies that filled it, opened the copy of the Slice he'd picked up off the sidewalk. The body count of this mysterious "back-alley surgeon" was rising to exponential levels; nine Zaddicts had dropped dead in front of him this week alone. Graverobber sighed to himself as he flipped through the other pages; a small piece about Shilo caught his attention. Apparently, she was hiding out as a rich businessman's love affair on the other side of the world. He chuckled as he looked at the grainy little pictures of a little brunette girl who looked nothing like Shilo at all on the arm of a suit old enough to be her father.  
"The things they think you're up to, kid…"  
"Where am I this week?" Shilo's voice came from close to the dumpster almost making Graverobber jump in surprise.  
"What are you doing here, kid? You should be back at the house."  
"You were taking longer then normal and I was worried about you."  
_A lie. I never get home until 3 or 4, it's barely midnight. _  
"You were worried about me, huh, kid?" she nodded, then looked up shyly at him through the hair of her wig,  
"I kind of… _missed_ you too…" she said quietly. Graverobber's interests perked and his brain function took a nosedive. He hopped down from the dumpster and gave the little girl his predatory smirk,  
"Oh really, you _missed_ me, huh?" she nodded and let him pull her close and cover her lips with his. Shilo literally melted into his arms, he held her against him with no trouble at all, if she weighed 100lbs Graverobber would have been shocked. On a whim he actually lifted her, which caused her to carefully wrap her legs around his waist under his coat; careful not to disturb the holster on his hip. He entrapped her lips with his own and slid his hands up under the back of her shirt so he could hold her easier. Shilo entwined her fingers in his streaked hair as he began kissing and nibbling every inch of bare skin he could reach.  
When Graverobber finally paused to catch his breath, he rested his forehead against the crook of her neck; they were both panting and breathless.  
"See, kid? Feelin' nothin' at all ain't always all it's cracked up to be." Shilo shook her head as well as she could, but it was thrown back and her eyes were closed.  
"You-u still do-on't u-un-understa-and." She whimpered as he began his assault on her skin again.  
"I don't need to understand." He growled.  
"Yes, you do." She argued, and suddenly Graverobber felt something cold and metal pressed against the side of his neck, just under his jaw. "You need to understand…" Shilo pulled the trigger of his own Z-gun that somehow she'd managed to not only get out of his thigh holster, but load behind his back without his realizing it.  
Graverobber's whole body jerked and he dropped Shilo without meaning to, he knew that he hit the pavement, but he never felt flesh collide with pavement. All he knew was blue.


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing that came back to Graverobber was his hearing and from what he heard he knew he didn't want to open his eyes.  
"When's the fucking peasant going to wake up?"  
"I don't know, we're lucky we found him like that at all, we have no idea why he wasn't conscious. Just be patient, brother." What had happened hit Graverobber all at once; Shilo had shot him full of his own product and must have left him in the alley, unconscious and defenseless.  
And now he was kneeling in front of Amber Sweet and at least her brother Luigi with his arms cuffed behind his back. Graverobber couldn't tell if he was more terrified or enraged, but neither would help him here. With as much pride and dignity he could muster, Graverobber lifted his head and opened his eyes.  
"Princess, fancy meeting you here." Amber was standing before him in an outfit that made her look like a cross between a schoolteacher and a fetish model. Her thigh-high boots met the hem of a black pencil line silk skirt and a black pleather top. Luigi was standing just behind her to one side and Pavi was standing on the other side completing Graverobber's nightmare. "Haven't seen you around for a while."  
"I'm cleaning up my act, I don't need scum like you anymore." Amber spat at him.  
"Then why am I here, princess? If you don't need me…" he allowed himself to trail off as Amber stalked forward and stopped in front of him so close that he could clearly see the small purple pinstripes in her skirt. She reached down and grabbed a chunk of his hair and pulled his head back sharply so that he was looking up into her face.  
"You fell into my lap, lover, now I'm going to kill two birds with one stone." Luigi laughed darkly from behind her, but all Graverobber could see was Amber's bright blue eyes. "You see, Graverobber, there's a little problem that I can't solve. And you've been volunteered to help me."  
"Let go of me." Graverobber growled through clenched teeth. Surprisingly, Amber did, but replaced it with a slap to the face.  
"Your ability to talk to me like that has ended." Graverobber couldn't breath he was so pissed off, but instead of yelling or lunging for Amber's throat, Graverobber actually chuckled.

"Stop laughing!" Luigi screamed, which made Graverobber actually laugh harder. Amber came back into his line of sight and she was holding her trademark riding crop; without a word she brought it down across his face on the same side she'd just slapped, Graverobber actually felt his flesh split.  
"Wouldn't you like to know what you've been volunteered for?" she asked sweetly, "I'm sure, living on the street as you do, that you've noticed that there are quite a few people dying right and left and no one's quite sure why." With another chuckle, Graverobber looked up at her with an amused smirk.  
"I may have heard mention of it in passing."  
"Needless to say the sheep are getting nervous, the rate of surgeries have declined a lot in the last few weeks. So I've devised a plan." Amber ran her fingers across Graverobber's split cheek, setting it on fire by almost wedging her finger into the wound. Her fingers came away covered in blood and she licked it off before continuing, "I'm going to choose a scapegoat, blame someone to calm everyone down. Even if the killings don't stop, everyone will assume they're just overspill from before." Amber bent and kissed her bloody lips to Graverobber's dark colored ones, "So, lover, I'm going to have you publicly blamed and executed for the crimes." Amber stood back up and stalked back towards Luigi who drew her close as she started to sing mockingly, "Graverobber, Graverobber, sometimes I wondered why I even bothered. Graverobber, Graverobber, but now I know I don't need you at all!" Luigi laughed and covertly slid his hand down and caressed Amber's ass for a moment when he thought no one could see.

But Graverobber did.  
"I get it, princess, you're getting rid of the only person you don't have wrapped around your finger who's ever seen you vulnerable." He chuckled, "Do you have all yer ex's put to death so you can come crawling safely back to yer brother who'll give you all the love you'd ever need?" Amber's new cheeks grew deep crimson under her makeup. She shoved Luigi away and stomped like a child having a tantrum away from all of them.  
"I don't know what you're talking about."  
"Than why don't I spell it out for you? Or rather I could spell it out in the tabloids?" Amber whirled around,  
"You'd expose yourself!"  
"It'll be worth it to watch you burn." Amber let out a harpy screech and gestured wildly at the two female guards and Graverobber.  
"Get him out of here!"  
"I'm gonna wash the floor with his entrails!" Luigi bellowed lunging for Graverobber.  
"No!" Amber snapped, and Luigi froze, "When he dies it needs to be public." She gave Graverobber an evil little grin, "I'm going to have you shot down like the rabid dog you are." The guards dragged him to his feet and half dragged him out the door into the hallway where the Largo's followed close behind. As they passed the stairs Graverobber turned to Luigi,  
"Yer sister's a good lay isn't she?" A still enraged Luigi threw himself at Graverobber, knife flying.  
Unfortunately or fortunately, Amber was between Luigi and Graverobber. Luigi's knife caught Amber across the face and their combined momentum knocked her into the railing, which gave way, spilling Amber onto the marble below. Luigi, who'd barely kept his balance, started screaming for Genterns and SerGens.  
Graverobber actually started to chuckle again, because really the whole situation was ridiculously perfect. Pavi, who'd been strangely quiet through this whole affair, motioned to the henchgirls. One held Graverobber still while the other knocked him out with the butt of her rifle.

******

Being shot up and knocked out a few hours apart from each other really sucks… Graverobber thought to himself as he slowly came to. He'd been having strange dreams while he was out, at one point he swore that he'd jerked awake at the sound of an ear splitting scream, but he couldn't be sure. After quickly scanning the room to make sure he was alone, Graverobber waited until his vision stopped spinning to finish his inspection of his new prison. It wasn't like any one that he'd ever been in. For one thing there was a plush looking bed against one wall and there was even a dresser against one wall.  
It's a guest room, they kidnapped/arrested you and they locked you in the guest room.

_You know, I almost thought I was going to wake up hanging upside down in the basement again.  
Only this time the kid won't come save you.  
The kid!_

_What are you going to do about that, huh? We both know you're pissed about what she did.  
I don't think she's thinking clearly at this point.  
She managed to shoot you up while you made out with her! She's thinking too clearly._

_Look, I don't wanna talk about the kid right now. I'll figure out what to do about her when and if I get out of this without being given a lead lobotomy. I'd also like to get my hands on this back-alley surgeon and wring his neck! _

_I'm with you on that one. _Suddenly there was a loud commotion outside the window. Curious, Graverobber pulled up the window and was promptly greeted with the reason that the Largo's didn't feel that having a window in the "prison" was a problem. The drop outside was approximately 30 stories down.

The fuss was coming from a new commercial on one of the holo-screens; it was the simplest Graverobber had ever seen, Amber sat at her desk with her brothers flanking her on either side.  
"Ladies and gentlemen, people of Crucifixious, as you are all aware something has been terrorizing our streets. But now, I am happy to finally be able to announce that the culprit behind this back alley slaughter has finally been captured and will be brought to justice. In light of this good news, all surgeries before the upcoming trial... and possible execution will be interest free. Once again our city can feel safe." She flashed the camera a flirtatious smile, it looked as though she hadn't just had her face laid open by the man hovering over her right shoulder.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been hours since Graverobber'd woken up and there was a cold, dark hole in the pit of his stomach. The commercial played every half hour and Amber's voice was grating on his last nerve more then it usually did. He wasn't sure how, but he had to get back to the kid, she was sick as a dog and there was no way she could take good care of herself.

_What makes you think she still wants your help? _

_If this is all the help yer gonna be, I'm not talking to you right now. _

_It's true though; she shot you up for christsakes! Do you really think she's gonna want you to take care of her when you can be outdone by a sickly seventeen-year-old?_

Graverobber jumped a mile when there was a firm knock at the door. Who the hell knocked on the door of a "prison"?

"Come in?" Confusion came out as many of Graverobber's emotions did, as a deep resounding sarcasm. The door opened and Pavi Largo made his entrance, someone else's smile plastered on his face.

"The Pavi was just trying to be polite, not that it really means anything by now." Pavi carefully closed the door behind him, not even bothering to slide the lock into place. "Feeling better?"

"As well as I can, considering." Graverobber answered attempting the same politeness Pavi was faking.

"Sister plans to kill you, you know. The Pavi has come to prepare you for your… perfomance." Pavi pulled his mirror from wherever he was keeping it and began to play with it absently, the silver catching the street lights outside and sending bright beams across the room.

"Your sister swears she's going to kill me on a daily basis."

"The Pavi hates to tell you this, but… sister is a bit more interested in going though with it this time."

"I know." _I'm not getting outta this without a lead lobotomy unless I can come up with something good. _"'nd since I'm in here…" 

"You are in no place to believe you are in charge here, Mr. Robber." Graverobber flinched at the unfortunate nickname. "You did upset sister after all, the Pavi believes he must do something about this." With surprising strength Pavi grabbed the front of Graverobber's shirt and pulled him close.

"Yeah, I know she's got you wrapped around those manicured fingers of her's." Graverobber joked, covering his fear and anger with quips. "Do you get some too? Or are you not good enough?" Pavi let out a surprising growl and threw Graverobber back; nearly on his back it was so sudden.

"Shut up! She is the Pavi's sister and our brother can have her." Pavi let out a scoffing sound that told Graverobber that he struck a cord, "The Pavi is merely defending his family." Without warning Pavi kicked out and hit Graverobber in the chest before digging his boot into his sternum, "Sister is the main part of this family now, and it is our job to look after her now." Graverobber coughed hard when Pavi lifted his foot,

""m sure you're doing a great job. She does that fine on her own. Why do you people seem to think that this is all my fault?"

"It is your fault. You have been nothing but trouble ever since sister first ran into you." Pavi leaned in close to him and lifted his hand with a smirk, "Do you think that this isn't your fault? That you haven't been looking for trouble with what you have been doing?" he released his face with a little push, "It's too bad, the Pavi would have loved to keep you around, but sister says no." Graverobber pushed down the shutter of revulsion and terror at the thought of being kept like a pet by the infamous Paviche Largo. He'd seen a few separate occations what the girls Pavi "played" with after he'd left and frankly looking into what should have been a face and seeing only muscle and bone is more then a little un-nerving. Not to mention, Graverobber had once made the mistake of sneaking forward to check the state of the young woman's Zydrate and had caught sight of the look in her eyes. She'd been absolutely terrified when she died, a look that had stayed in her eyes longer then the metaphorical spark of life.

"Honestly I've been trying to avoid yer sister since she flipped about three years ago. She's always tried to be the baddest bitch on the block, but she apparently felt threatened and upped the crazy." It was hard to gage Pavi's emotions because his own scared face was covered by someone else's someone's who didn't quite fit right so it was stretched and grotesque in places. "What do you want with me?" the second the words had come out of his mouth, he began kicking himself for letting the hint of fear escape his mouth in such a plea. Pavi just looked straight at him and grinned a pair of mismatched mouths at him.

"The Pavi does not discriminate much against male and female, as long as it's a pretty face. But, again, sister has made it clear that we have to wait and kill you publicly." Here he picked back up his silver mirror and gazed at himself, "If it makes sister happy, the Pavi will wait." Graverobber suppressed another twitch, but covered it with another comment.

"you think she'll love you more if you looked like me?" He didn't look away quick enough and Graverobber saw a hurt look cross Pavi's face before it changed to a steely stare.

"The Pavi is not out to gain sister's love. It is… a lost cause. But that does not mean he cannot take advantage of having you at his feet." He stepped closer to where Graverobber was still kneeling with a bruise blossoming over his ribs. "At the very least the Pavi can make you feel physically, what he must suffer emotionally." Without another word Pavi kicked Graverobber straight in the face, a bright red burst of pain erupted across Graverobber's vision as he fought the urge to cry out and curse. Blinking his eyes against the pain he put his hands up and caught the blood that was now pouring out of his nose.

"You break my friggin' heart." He snarled as he sniffed back most of the blood and nearly gagged when it hit the back of his throat. "Nutin' but a big bully, aren't you?" He started to rise, reeling from being yet another blow to the head, "'Daddy didn't love me, big brother touched me, little sister can't even stand to look at her own face just because I'm wearing it. I have to go hurt innocent people so I don't have to feel bad about myself' Yer pathetic." Pavi shrugged, but refused to look at him directly,

"The Pavi has suffered but there is nothing he can do now, except what sister has told him." Moving much faster then he should have been able to and because Graverobber's head was still fuzzy he couldn't stop Pavi before he was behind him and had a firm grip on his arm. "You talk to much for the Pavi's liking. He prefers to hear the screams." He somehow managed to put one knee against the small of Graverobber's back and yanked as hard as he could on Graverobber's arm. It didn't break but Graverobber felt something give way and he couldn't help but let out a deep scream. He hit his knees, the jarring of the motion sending another flash of pain through his arm. "Much better!" had he been just a little younger or even a little crazier Pavi might have jumped and clapped his hands. "Don't you understand? If you just let us finish this, everybody will win."

"And what do I win?" _Why are you still talking? All yer doing is making him angry._ "That yer sister took what little dignity that she's let me keep this long?" Suddenly Graverobber felt warm, soft hands take hold of his chin and Pavi's face swam into sharper view.

"You? Well, you would be able to move on. That little girl is not your problem and ultimately, would live without you. All those addicts are not your friends. You are alone. Think of this as a relief from what you have had to live with for so long." He smirked under his mask.

"I'm so excited that I get to die kneeling at your sister feet in front of the whole city and the last thing I see, before I'm shot in the head like a rabid dog is your sister giggling while your brother gropes her ass while they watch my brains splatter the stage." Then the mention of Shilo sent up a red flag in his head, "Don't you talk about her." He growled.

"What does it matter? She will not last on her own without you. To be honest, she would not have lasted this long without you, not with daddy gone. You are better off out of her life and buried six feet deep."

"Oh really? She wouldn't have made it this far?" Graverobber chuckled, "If that's what you think then you'd be surprised. The kid's t-" in a flash Graverobber remembered the yammering in the living room, the news, on the TV at all times in the Wallace house. Shilo might accidentally watch his execution.

"This is what the Pavi knows, silly Graves." He stood up and out of view again, the look of horror and shame must have shown on Graverobber's faces because when he spoke again he could hear Pavi smiling. "How do you think she will take your death? Do you think she will mourn like the child bride you've made her? Or do you think the little Bella will just get on with her life? Go back to the Z? The Pavi is sure you failed this one, as you have the others." "She won't… I didn't…" he muttered to himself, denying. "What will you gain after you kill me? That guy's still out there, stealing and killing off yer clientele." He snapped, trying to rebuild his confidence.

"This is true, and we will find him. But you must go first, so we can at least calm the people down, make sure they do not stop getting their surgeries just because they are afraid. It is too bad." He leaned back against one of the small end tables, "Shilo is a cute little thing, when not strung out on drugs. But that is something you will not have to even worry about seeing again, Graves."

"Cause it won't happen." Graverobber dropped his condescending smirk on his face as he realized how pathetic he was starting to sound, clinging to that one hope that he could have faith in the kid.

"It will! It will and you know that, yes?" Pavi was nearly skipping across the room as he started circling Graverobber again, "Think how hard you've been working, how much it took to get the little Bella to even stop and get to where she is. Do you think she is still clean, now that you've been gone so long? She even has your gun, does she not?" he grabbed hold of Graverobber's chin again and tried to make him nod, Graverobber tried to bite his fingers,

"Fuck you, kid's better then that."

"You would think so. But she is probably all strung out." He fanned himself with the mirror, sending small glimmers of light right into Graverobber's eyes. "Graverobber! Graverobber! Sometimes we wonder why you even bother!" he mocked. Graverobber put his good arm up against the wall and started to stand, got dizzy half way up and paused before drawing himself the rest of the way up and trying not to lean against the wall for support.

"They don't all love the Pavi, doesn't that suck, Mr. Overcompensation?" Pavi lashed out and slammed Graverobber across the face with his mirror, the cold metal biting into still tender flesh and sending Graverobber back to the ground, landing heavily on his bad arm as he let out a growling yelp of pain.

"It would do you good to not mock the Pavi, otherwise he will show you what he is NOT overcompensating for." He leaned down and watched a new stream of blood dripping down Graverobber's face, "And at least the Pavi does not have to spend his last few days alive, thinking about how badly he's failed the little Bella." Graverobber would have been happier if Pavi had hit him again, so instead he struck back,

"Tell me, is there a reason that on the holo-screens I've never seen you with the same GENtern twice?" Graverobber dabbed at the blood on his lip as he tried to hear around the ringing that had developed in his ears. "It can't be just because your brother's killed them all. Are they terrified after all's said and done? Can they live with themselves after they've let themselves be fucked by a monster?" Pavi glared at him, fire dancing in his dark eyes. "I seem to have struck a cord. The kid 'll be fine, she's away from you people and she's safe, but you're fucked."

"We will see how long she can survive on her own. We do still know where your little girl spends her time." Pavi drew himself up and fixed the lapels of his coat, "And the reason the Pavi is never with the same woman twice is because it only takes one time to get what he wants from them." Pavi wiped the blood off the edge of the mirror and held it up so Graverobber could see himself, see the mess they were already making of him. "Who is the one who is truly fucked?" he asked, laughing, "You do not have much time left, Graves, enjoy it."

"Wait! What do you mean about the kid?" the minute the word escaped his mouth Graverobber wanted to snatch them back.

"While brother and sister spent their time doing what had to be done here, the Pavi was keeping tabs on other things of importance. The little Bella being one of them. Even after her dad's death she could not bring herself to leave that house. Such a pretty little thing?"

"You keep your hands off of her."

"Do not worry, she is still not old enough for the Pavi. But that is not too far off either, is it?" he leaned in close, "But you would know all about that! Besides once you've been…" he pulled the mirror across his throat, "The Pavi can have his fun with the little Bella."

"You wouldn't dare…" horrible images of what he would do to his kid flashed through Graverobber's mind.

"Poor little Shilo will need someone who understands her pain." He placed a hand over his heart as if it pained him, "The Pavi did not want sister to kill Graves. He begged her, for your sake, to let him live. The Pavi understands your pain, little Bella." He caught Graverobber's eye, "She will need someone to comfort her, don't you think?" he grinned, "The Pavi believes she will be very willing to have someone 'comfort' her!"

"Touch you and I swear I'll kill you!" Graverobber snarled as he tried to launch himself to his feet, but was hit with vertigo and fell flat.

"Bring it on, you cheap imposter!" Pavi challenged as he opened his arms to a weakening Graverobber, inviting him to try something, anything. When he didn't move, Pavi leaned against the wall and admired his face in the mirror, "But you do not have to worry, the Pavi will look after the little Bella. If it makes you feel any better, he will keep him away from brother and keep her for the Pavi." Graverobber squeezed his eyes shut and attempted to stand again,

"Don't you touch her." He took as firm and threatening a step forward as he could as he got in close to Pavi's face,

"Or what? Tell me what you think you will do to stop the Pavi."

"She doesn't belong to you."

"She doesn't belong to you either." Pavi snapped and without warning swept his leg out and took Graverobber's feet out from under him, "you have fallen far from your graces, Graves." He stepped down hard on Graverobber's ankle, his boots the only thing that kept it from breaking. Just as Graverobber let out a grunt of pain, Amber sauntered in, still in her little "business outfit".

"Playing nice are we?" Pavi put another round of pressure on Graverobber's ankle, one of the buckles on the boots digging deeply into the bone.

"Of course, sister." Amber smiled sweetly at Graverobber laying on the floor,

"Aren't you enjoying your stay?"

"No, I'm really not." He answered just as the third and probably worst Largo sibling entered the room and let the door swing closed behind him.  
"Phew! Did someone just shit out road-kill?" he asked with surprising pleasantness as he took a sip of the coffee he was holding, then he exhaled happily.

"Dunno, yer here."

"Oh-ho! The Graverobber, that explains it."

"You put me here, jackass." Amber sauntered over and kicked Graverobber, hard in his possibly dislocated shoulder,

"You shouldn't speak to your hosts that way."

"Besides, I'm a busy man. I can't be expected to remember every rat I cage up." he shrugged, "But let me ask you something… are you a man of taste?" Pavi's smile had vanished and he walked to the table and sat against it, twirling his mirror in one hand and watched silently. Graverobber dabbed again at his split lips,

"Depends on the taste." Luigi dropped to one knee and stared Graverobber in the eye; Graverobber had seen more life and mercy in the eyes of a Zaddict then in those eyes. He gestured to the cup of coffee he held,

"Expresso…black. Imported. A pound'll cost hundreds." Graverobber listened politely, fresh blood pouring down his face from where he played with his lip,

"Terrific, caffeine is caffeine though." Luigi tried to hand him the cup, Graverobber held up one hand,

"Thanks, but expensive coffee and peasant blood don't mix right." Luigi sighed calmly, uncharacteristically calm.

"You know… Italian families are very big on sharing. Especially with food and drink. We like our guests to intake until they can't… well… take no more." He glanced at his brother, "Isn't that right?" Pavi just looked away, Luigi looked at Amber a creepily loving look past between them, "Right, sister dear?"

"Of course, brother." She said smiling her evil little smile.

_Yer screwed, dude. Don't know how, but it won't be good. _

"And when you reject OUR generosity… we take it personally."

"You people take everything personally." Graverobber muttered just loud enough to be heard. Luigi reached over and grabbed hold of a hunk of Graverobber's hair and yanked his head back.

"It's how we were raised," Amber said conversationally.

"Right along with the lesson that junk grabbing is a friendly hello?"

"So drink up!" Luigi interrupted like Graverobber had never spoken, "You'll never get another chance like this!" Luigi wrenched Graverobber's mouth open and damn near gleefully poured the scalding coffee across his face and down his throat. Graverobber choked and gagged until he figured out how to swallow with his throat stretched so oddly. "Mmmm," Luigi said happily as he messed Graverobber's hair like an older brother and patted his head a little too hard before he stood up with a grin.

"Yumm…" he coughed, "yummy." Luigi took a few steps back,

"I think I made a bit of a mess." He laughed, "God help me, Pavi'll attest I'm no good with handling hot breakfast drinks."

"Completely my fault, I wasn't taught table manners in my trashcan." Graverobber spat sarcastically as he watched Luigi take off his coat that he set down on the table next to Pavi, who refused to look at anyone in the room.

"Uh oh, you made him take his coat off, you poor soul." Amber giggled in an obnoxiously sing-song voice,

"Oh, I'm terrified of the big bad brother."

"You weren't taught much in the way of manners at all were you?" Amber asked,

"Like hygiene," Luigi said as he removed his leather gloves, "But that's okay-"

"That's ok, we can help with that." Amber interrupted,

"Weren't you taught about interrupting a conversation?" Graverobber asked her while Luigi rolled up his sleeves and left the room quickly. Graverobber's heart beat harder and harder in his chest, causing his shoulder to pulse on the offbeat. Where had Luigi gone?

_This isn't good._

_You honestly thought this could end well?_ Luigi entered again, holding some type of machine that Graverobber had never seen before and a long length of hose.

"You see, little man, I know how your kind sees me and they think I'm kinda an ogre."

"Ogre? Nah, dragon, yer brother's the ogre." Luigi chuckled softly as he started to unroll the hose,

"They say 'that Luigi… he'll go off in an instant! He's a time-bomb!'"

"What does that make me?" Amber shrilled,

"Harpy." Graverobber answered without missing a beat,

_That's it; if you can't shut yer fuckin mouth I'm leaving you here, you idiot!_ Luigi walked over to Graverobber and wrapped the hose around his neck,

"Say that again."

"I have a scarf, thanks." Luigi yanked the hose tighter around his neck and screamed in his ear,

"I SAID SAY IT AGAIN, YOU FUCKING RAT!"

"yer-… sister's a-…harp-py." Graverobber choked out,

"What? What was that? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" he pulled the hose tight the whole time he was talking, Graverobber's already throbbing head started s reaming for air. He saw Amber's satisfied smirk, he looked her right in the eye and when the hose was loosened again,

"Take the hose off my throat and I'll scream it." Graverobber saw movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Pavi drop his gaze and start to shake his head in disbelief. Graverobber tried not to jump when Luigi suddenly started to fake cough,

"Oh, that smell! It's like caffinated ass fermented in a whore's snatch!" he almost laughed good naturedly,

"Well I was with yer sister before…" Graverobber muttered as Luigi walked over to the machine and turned it on, it started making a soft humming noise as he hooked the hose to it and aimed the nozzle at him.

"You're so messy with coffee, blood… you smell…and me, being the generous guy I am…will clean you up for your big TV spot." He chuckled a little, "By the way, this is the sort of thing that used to spray the streets of blood left by the Repo Men."

"Yippie, I'm so excited."

"So imagine the amount of pressure required to get rid of day old guts and entrails. Maybe we'll wipe off all that make up?"

"Maybe, turn it on your sister next ta get the smell of cheap whore smell out." Luigi froze and turned and looked at Amber.

_That's it! I'm out! _ "Does this bring back fond memories, princess? Of my other forced bathing escapades?"

"Luigi if you keep looking at me like that, I'm going to kick your ass. As for you, Graves, you wish." Suddenly a sharp hit of icy water struck Graverobber straight in the chest, knocking him over backwards. Without thinking he reached his arms back to catch himself, only to land on his bad arm and let out a scream. Graverobber couldn't hear anything over the force of the spray and the sound of Luigi's laughter. It seemed to go on forever, Graverobber felt like the water had stripped away his clothes and skin and was icing him down from the inside. Finally, as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

"…Granted we can't let you go out looking like you do. We have an image to uphold here, and executing such a sorry excuse for a prisoner will do nothing for our PR. So, we're gonna fix you up right and proper before your television debut."

"I'm sorry princess, were you talking? I seem to have water in my ears." Luigi had removed the machine and had come back and started rifling though his jacket.

"Graves, ever think, maybe you should just shut your mouth?" Pavi asked,

"All the time." He said coughing hard. Graverobber tried to stand, but his body just wouldn't cooperate. While he struggled Amber had waltzed herself over and began stripping him out of his coat, being none to gentle with his arm.

"Princess, what are you doing?"

"You didn't really think we were going to let you keep your toys, did you?" she asked yanking his linen shirt over his head. "The coat, shirt, boots, holsters, bag, it's all ours. You'll get them back when we dress you up for your big moment." The second the linen shirt was over his wrists, Graverobber felt something cold and metal snap painfully tight around one wrist, then grunted in pain as the other wrist was wrenched back to join it.

"You know, Pavi, there's something I'm not hearing here." Luigi said, much too close for comfort near Graverobber's ear.

"And what would that be, brother?"

"I'm not hearing a 'thank you'."

"Fuck all of you." Graverobber spat.

"Thank you for what, brother?"

"Why, our hospitality!" Luigi said as he dragged a hidden knife down Graverobber's bicep.

"Ah, that's right! Not a thank you at all!"

"Gee thanks, it's been fun. We'll do it again sometime, I gotta be going just now. The kid's waiting for me at home. Ya know bodies ta deface, whore's ta shoot up…"

"You keep him company, I bring him coffee, bathe him… Amber gets his clothes so he doesn't suffer a cold…" Graverobber was distracted by Amber going though the pockets of his coat.

"And he is not grateful to us in the least." Pavi sighed.

"really, it's been a blast."

"Nope, he just wants to go back to fucking the dead and fucking over the zombies." Amber removed a small picture that Graverobber had swiped off the mantel in the living room,

"Aww, how sweet, keeping a trinket of your prepubescent love affair?" she asked, voice dripping with poison. She threw the photo to the ground and slammed her boot down on it, shattering the glass and cutting at the picture inside.

"He's been with the Wallace brat, ain't he?"

"Yeah. You know, maybe you should go talk to her, brother. Someone should tell her how dangerous it is to hang out with his kind." Amber slithered up against Luigi,

"Don't you touch her." Graverobber snarled,

"I think I should, steer her back in the right direction. You don't see a girl like that today, no manufactured parts. It's rare."

"I thought you liked my parts!" Amber whined,

"I do, sister, I'm not saying the bitch is perfect. But we could show her real family love…"

******

A/N: What did I just do? Poor GR… more soon!


	9. Chapter 9

With only a dirty look shot in Graverobber's direction, Luigi put one possessive arm around Amber's waist and swept her out of the room, his cruel mouth whispering in her ear; Amber was giggling like a little girl with a crush, or an older girl who would crush your skull. Graverobber wanted nothing more then to release all the tension he was holding, to slump over and at the very least groan out his agony, but still he couldn't. Though he hadn't said anything in the last few minutes, Pavi was still half sitting on the small table, his mirror face down on the wood, his hand on his face. He sighed heavily after a few more long minutes of silence,

"The Pavi wishes that brother would be a bit more creative... he is repeating himself." He took his hand away from his face and looked down at Graverobber, there was a strange flash of sympathy that passed though his eyes, "If it helps, the Pavi does not think brother knows where the little Bella really is."

"It doesn't help, cause there's always a chance." he answered. Pavi nodded solemnly and picked up his mirror, they were both silent again for a long time. Graverobber felt the hand on his bad arm go numb from the angle and the cuffs and cursed silently. Finally Pavi spoke again,

"You said Bella was smart, yes? She will be alright." Pavi pushed himself away from the table and straightened, standing under his own power for the first time in maybe an hour and a half, "Only the Pavi ever kept track of her whereabouts, but do not let brother find out that you know she is still in her home. If brother does find her..." Pavi fell silent and Graverobber tried to push all of the scenes that tried to push themselves into his mind. This whole time he'd been worried about Pavi getting his hands on Shilo, now he knew better. An odd thought hit Graverobber and he looked up and stared at Pavi,

"Not that I'm complaining about not getting the shit kicked out of me again. But why are you trying to comfort me?" Pavi glanced over and gave him a slightly sarcastic look,

"It is not that the Pavi is trying to comfort you. It is just…he can understand your pain. Brother is cruel." Pavi's hand was unwittingly drawn to his face as if it pained him, without realizing it he turned his face away from Graverobber as if ashamed. "And from what he has seen, the Pavi likes little Shilo, but as I've said, brother is cruel…" Graverobber sighed and rested his neck a little by looking at the ground,

_I can't take this…_ Everything he'd known and taken to be law was splintering before his eyes. The infamous Pavichi Largo was acting like a living breathing human being, not the womanizing child of the devil himself. The heavy accent caused Graverobber's head to snap back up, he stifled a groan as the world spun.

"The Pavi wishes he could console you about what is to happen…what Sister's plans are…but…" he glanced at the door then back at Graverobber, "There is no more he can do to help the situation. You already know what she wants."

"Believe me, I know all to well." Graverobber attempted to move his shoulders to relieve some of the pressure in his wrists, and had to bite back a cry of pain. "You don't believe all the things you told me earlier, do you?" Angry that the pain that invaded his voice made it sound like he was tearing up, he met Pavi's gaze to show him that it was false. Pavi spun his mirror with obvious skill in one hand,

"No, the Pavi doesn't believe the little Bella will slip back into the waiting arms of your drug again, just like that. She is waiting on you to come back to her, the Pavi would assume." Graverobber gave a snort on unamused laughter,

"Gonna be waiting a long time." Pavi nodded,

"Especially if Sister gets what she wants." There was a pause, "You know, the Pavi does not really think you failed the little Bella either. She would have never gotten as far as she did alone." Graverobber nodded his appreciation; then he started to laugh. It started as a low chuckle, then it escalated until Pavi looked at him as if he'd simultaneously gone mad and grown another head.

"What is so amusing about all this?"

"How do you feel that you're bonding with a drug dealer? Cause I find this situation funny as hell in reverse." He laughed so hard that it felt as though something enclosed around his lungs and he began to cough, hard. He glanced at the floor through slitted eyes when he felt something wet pass his lips. Blood splattered the hardwood floors, but even still he continued to chuckle.

If he didn't keep laughing he was going to break completely. Thankfully it only took another moment or two for Pavi's face to…sort of break out into a smile, a true smile.

"The Pavi guesses it is not the most normal thing to happen. Especially for you." He glanced at the blood on the floor and shook his head, "The Pavi would prefer not to give sister the satisfaction." He pulled a nice white cotton handkerchief from one of his pockets and wiped the blood from the floor. It seemed strange and so out of character that Graverobber stared at him for a moment. He was thrown again for a loop when Pavi wiped the blood from his mouth with a clean place on the cloth before putting it back in his pocket. "Honestly, it is not often the Pavi has conversations with those to be executed. He almost hates to see you go." Graverobber wasn't sure how to take this change in events; he was more then shocked as he stared at Pavi.

"Yer not quite as creepy as you're played up to be." The thought slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it, he then tried to cover his ass, "Don't get me wrong, you can be a terrifyingly twisted human being, but still."

_I think all this blood loss and pain is getting to you._

Pavi stared at him as though he wasn't sure whether or not he should be offended.

"The Pavi has never really heard anyone say that before. Though he does not often talk to people like he has with you." He tilted his head to the side as he seemed to think about it for a moment, "It is a bit of a surprise to even hear it, especially from you."

"Which part? The "Yer a twisted fucker" part or the "but your not that bad"?" Pavi laughed,

"The "you're not that bad" part of it." Graverobber shrugged and grinned,

"It might be the possible brain damage, but hey, 'm not a SurGen." There was a pause before Pavi spoke again; his voice light, but his tone held a bit of a sting,

"True, but we could always keep that option open, huh Graves? Who knows, Sister might let the Pavi keep you." He grinned at Graverobber, who was "amused" to realize that he was getting used to two sets of lips smiling at him at once. He wasn't quite sure how much he liked that statement, but let it slide off because he seemed to have insulted Pavi, who was apparently trying to be friendly. He apparently kept silent too long because Pavi chuckled, "Do not worry, the Pavi holds you in a higher respect than that, Graves." He said as he leaned back against the table again.

"Oh really?" this was a surprising development. Graverobber just kept chuckling to himself, sounding a little insane to his own ears.

"Yes, because you are not focused on getting into the Pavi's pants for once, you aren't afraid of the Pavi, you will actually have a conversation with him. It is…refreshing every so often."

"No offence, but yer not my type." Graverobber said, shifting again, trying like hell to get even a little circulation back into his arms.

"The Pavi does not take offence and thinks; in fact, it might be better that way." He crossed his arms and stared at the door like it had just said something mean about his new face, "You know, it would not be such a bad thing if that back alley surgeon caught up with Brother and Sister…" Graverobber started to laugh again,

"It's the thought that crosses my mind every time I hear your sister whine my name." He started to cough hard again, the force throwing him forward, tearing at his bad arm causing him to give a barking shout of pain, which doubled the bout of coughing. He had an idea that was worth a shot, the worse thing that could happen was that he'd say no…

_The worst thing that could happen is that Captain Anger-Management waltz's back through that door with the Princess of Pain hanging off his arm and they continue to beat you within an inch of your miserable little life. That would be the worst that could happen. _

_When did you become the pessimist in this relationship? You weren't even here._

_WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK I WENT? I'm a combination of your imagination and your common sense! Did you really think I LEFT? I think you do have brain damage…_ Graverobber growled at himself quietly, but didn't miss the strange look he was receiving from Pavi.

_When you're getting funny looks from the man wearing a woman's face, you know you've got problems. _

_I think I liked it better when I was pretending you weren't here. _

Just as Graverobber was going to use his newfound connection with his buddy, Pavi, to loosen the cuff on his bad arm so that every breath he drew wasn't like wrenching it out of socket again; the object of his nightmares comes waltzing back through the door.

With his hand wrapped around the arm of a little black-haired girl.

"Alright, you fucking peasant, I've got a present for you." He chuckled and threw the girl to the ground. A cloth covered her face from the nose down, working as a wonderful gag, because all Graverobber could see or hear were those big dark eyes welling with tears, and the tiniest mewling sounds like those of a frightened kitten.

Graverobber felt like Luigi might as well have reached his fist into his chest and ripped his heart clean out, maybe grabbed the rest of his organs too while the fucker was at it.

"So help me… if you touch her…" Graverobber growled, a cough building at the back of his throat, feeling like razors renting his flesh; but he refused to let it out. He was so angry he could barely form full thoughts.

_Shilo!_

_Safe..._

_**Mine.**_

"What are you gonna do, huh? You think you can take me?"

"Unchain me and find out." He met Luigi's gaze steadily, his every muscle screaming in protest of their tightening in fury.

"Brother! Put the little Bella back, she's done nothing."

"Little bitch wanted the company, she was going to get it instead of us. Aren't you pissed about that?"

"Why would the Pavi be angry about this? We still don't have the company, Brother, Sister runs GeneCo."

"It's not the fucking point!" Luigi screamed, grabbing at the girl and yanking her head back by the hair. Graverobber all but snarled in the mistreatment of his girl, completely missing the fact that the kid's hair wasn't really attached to her head. Luigi was still arguing with Pavi, his knife now clutched in his hand. "…so I'm going to have my fucking fun with her, understand?"

"But, Brother-"

"Get your pansy ass out of here!" Pavi glared at his brother; but, eyeing his knife, left.

_So much for male bonding._ Luigi knelt down close to Shilo, but was staring straight at Graverobber.

"You see, animal, I'm a little _cranky_ this evening." He began tracing the flat of the blade against the kid's face as tears flowed down her deathly white cheeks and her crying was muffled against the gag. "Would you like to know why?"

"Yer sister's heels make her too tall to bend over the desk properly?" Graverobber growled, voice barely more then a rumble in his throat.

"Shut up!" Luigi screamed as he slashed the blade down Shilo's cheek, laying it open. There had to have been something under the gag because her scream was far too quiet. As he watched blood mingle with the tears on her face, Graverobber struggled hard against the manacles that held his wrists captive. His wrenched arm began screaming where it had lessened to a dull ache, he gave one more sharp tug before he slumped back, panting hard through the pain. Luigi looked at him smugly, knowing how badly he hurt, seeing just how weak Graverobber looked at the moment. "You see, when you made that little comment and you forced me to shove my sister, by accident of course, off the balcony she obviously landed on the floor. They rushed her into surgery to save not only her life, but her pretty face." Luigi was idling trailing the knife across Shilo's skin again, only this time using the tip of the blade. Little ribbons of blood welled against her white flesh and Graverobber had a strange flash of thought through his anger,

_Skin white as snow, Hair black as ebony…_

_But it's more then just her lips that are red with blood. _

"PAY ATTENTION!" Luigi screamed, digging the knife in hard above Shilo's collarbone, but barely two inches disappeared. There was that terrible muffled scream again. Mutely, Graverobber swore that if he ever got out of this, he was never again going to complain about how high and loud the kid could scream. Luigi removed the knife and continued with his surface cuts as he continued to speak as though he were chatting with an old friend over coffee. "She woke up, Graves, my darling sister woke up while they were repairing the bones in her face." Luigi's knife started to slice through Shilo's bloodstained white shirt and the skin beneath. "Because she's been addicted to your product so long, she needs more then a safe amount of medical grade Zydrate to make it through her surgeries. So, she woke up, Graves." He'd finished slicing through the shirt now and Graverobber looked away. Weak a thing as it was to do; he wasn't going to look at the kid for the first time without clothes while she was tied up and on the business end of a knife at the hands of a psychopath. He couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Do you know whose name she woke up screaming?" Luigi asked, seeming no longer care whether or not he was the center of attention anymore, "Your's Graves. My sister. Woke up. In excruciating pain, SCREAMING YOUR FUCKING NAME!!" There were those whimpered screams again; those quiet muffled sobs. "And now I'm going to make your little whore scream mine." Graverobber's head snapped up and simultaneously tried to, once again in vain, tear his hands out of their bonds.

But they held him as well as the scene unfolding in front of him.

Try as he might Graverobber couldn't get free.

Try as he might be couldn't save Shilo.

Try as he might he couldn't look away.


	10. Chapter 10

Graverobber had finally dragged himself over to the bed and was leaning against it; he couldn't bring himself to lift himself onto it. His whole body throbbed off beat with his heart, its constant pounding the only reminder of its existence. Buried deep in the back of his throat, under the blisters and the blood, was a scream built of all his frustrations and fear. Luigi had left a little while ago, unlatching his shackles and leaving the bloody mess that used to be a bright young girl on the other side of the room. Her little white shirt was balled up on the floor near the door and that little purple skirt was stained nearly black with blood and torn to shreds.

He'd failed her.

Once again a vibrant life, the light of girl he cared about nearly more then his own life had been violently snuffed out while he looked on, helpless.

Useless.

"What've I done?" he growled to himself, voice rough from the burns, "This wasn't…she was never supposed ta be..anywhere…" He lashed out in pained rage and punched the floor with his good arm, splitting open his knuckles and failing to make himself feel any better at all. Graverobber's head swam with pain as he heard a soft, echoing set of footsteps coming closer and closer until they stopped in front of him. A familiar voice whispered from above him,

"I spy…with my little eye…" Graverobber snapped his head up, vertigo blackening his vision for a moment,

"Who's there, stay back!" his sight finally came back and the sight before him nearly caused him to topple over backwards. The infamous Blind Mag stood before him, the feathers on the skirt of her corset nearly so close that they could have brushed his face. She looked just as she had when he'd last seen her above the stage during her last performance. There were even bits of fake snow still clinging to her hair and the blood was still fresh looking on her cheeks from her valiant defiance of Rotti. She looked down at him with empty sockets, her expression the same beautiful somber she put on ever since she'd gotten Marni's eyes.

"So, did you have her cure?"

"Maggie-bird? How?" Graverobber had known Mag way back when she was still waiting for the perfect transplant for the Cornea Plus. He'd fallen hard at the time, a young Graverobber, completely smitten with the older woman, her perfection enhanced by her "flaw". He remembered the painful way they'd parted and his secret vow to never force her to perform alone.

He'd even been there when Rotti killed her.

Graverobber rubbed his face with his hand and tried to think past the hazy wall in his brain. The motion tore open his lips again and he cursed,

"That was stupid…" he glanced back up at Mag and tried to give her his trademark smirk, "You always did turn me into an awkward little boy, didn't ya, Maggie-bird?" The fact that he was talking to a dead woman didn't bother him at all; during all his years haunting the bone yards he'd seen stranger things then the visions of the dearly departed. The thing that bothered him was that she was here, now; after everything that had happened to her beloved god-daughter and she'd barely given the body a backwards glance.

_She __**is**__ blind, you idiot. _

_Then how could she find me?_

"And you always had a way of trying to avoid the issues at hand." Mag answered him.

"There's no avoiding this time, is there?" Graverobber stared at the floor just to the side of Mag's feet, hating the defeatist tone his voice had but not able to stop himself, "Two days 'nd my brains are gonna be splattered across the same stage they killed you on…bastards…" He looked up at her, still not completely believing she was here with him, Mag shook her head slowly a few flakes of "snow" shaking loose and landing on the ground.

"A fitting end for the King of the Underworld. Louis XVI was killed on the most popular stage in Paris." She paused, "He didn't put up a fight either." Graverobber started to chuckle darkly at the first half of her comment,

"Onna the times that being the Zydrate K-" the last half finally caught up with his brain, "Didn't put up a fight? You come across to insult me, Maggie? Call me a coward on top of everything else?"

"When did the word coward escape my lips?" she asked in that calm, chiding tone that she had. The tone he both loved and hated. She knelt down before him, she was still as beautiful as ever, eyes or no, "How did you ever get here?"

"Old grudges, scorned lovers…" Graverobber looked away, unable to meet that lovely face, "I'm sorry, Maggie-bird…she was my last chance to do somethin' right… 'nd I watched him…" silently cursing the scream-filled lump in his throat, he swallowed and tried again, "Did her about as much good as I did you, didn't I?"

"Paying such a fee for the mistakes of others?" she asked.

"If I'd never found her again after the graveyard…hell if I hadn't drawn attention ta myself 'nd her…maybe none of this…" Graverobber couldn't stop himself until Mag interrupted him,

"There you go, giving yourself all the credit!" she chuckled a little, a nice sound that he cherished all the more because he heard it so seldom. That chuckle also told him how stupid he was being, he shook his head a little and half smirked,

"Sorry, after what I've been listenin' to recently the fact that the sun never shines on this gods forsaken island's my fault so…"

"Then give them the moon, Zydrate King." She said; her tone even but the inflection was fiercer then he'd ever heard it. Much as he liked that advice, there wasn't a lot he could do at this point. There was one thing he could do; he finally looked up at Mag, letting his eyes trace the curves of her face.

"Is she safe over there? Hell, are YOU safe over there?"

"No need to worry about me. As you can see," she stood and spread her arms low, letting him get a full view of her bloody visage, "I am doing just fine." She smiled at him before kneeling again, "But who is this 'she'?" Graverobber stared at her like she'd gone insane,

"The kid, yer god daughter? Didja not see what he just did?!" he couldn't help the furious tone that seeped into his words.

"Ask a blind woman to see?" she said, tone gentle. She paused and just looked towards his face, "I did not watch what they did to that poor girl."

"I had to." He said, tone flat and growing to a desperate growl, "'nd the fact it was the kid…it killed me. Gods, Maggie, how 'er they so fucked?" he searched her regal face for some clue, some answer, "What they've done to the people you love… ta you!" he glanced at the floor and shook his head, "I'm not a man who believes in the world being fair, but there's a line."

"That is what this world has become. Lives are a commodity. Bought. Sold. Signed away. Every single one of us played our role."

"Hafta admit, Maggie, parts of this play suck."

"No one sees the end of Hamlet alive." She gave him a sad little smile at the cry back to their relationship. Hamlet was the first play she'd brought him to see and they'd debated literature long into the night many times. "Graverobber…why do you bother?" He tried to ignore the shiver up his spine at those words,

"I don't know, I keep hopin' next time'll be better, that I won't fail." He smirked darkly, "Guess I don't get a chance ta make that mistake again, do I?"

"We only fail those who have faith in us. We only truly fail if we lose faith in them."

"How do you lose faith in the dead?"

"Asks the man talking to a dead woman?" Graverobber chuckled,

"I talk ta the dead a lot, this is onna the few times I've had them talk back."

"I believe I was the one who initiated this conversation…So really, the living are talking back to the dead." It was her own special way of ribbing him; her teasing manner evident.

"I always talk back to you, Maggie-bird." He countered.

"It's a fine line to walk. One foot in, the other foot out of the grave. Lonely." It was as if that one word broke a piece of the dam inside him. By just saying it, Graverobber felt the crushing loneliness. He reached his "good" hand up to brush his hand across her face, but he paused.

"Am I allowed to touch you? Or will ya leave me alone again if I do?" She gave him that somber little smile,

"I don't think there are any rules anymore, Graverobber." He chuckled a little,

"Dunno if I like that er not, I lose part of my charm when what 'm doin' isn't really illegal." He finished reaching up and brushed her curled bangs off her forehead, Mag closed her lids over empty sockets. As Graverobber's hand brushed across her cool skin the blood on her face disappeared like a stream of water flowed from his fingers. "'nd I half thought it'd go right through…" As his hand moved away, Mag opened her lids again, this time reveling her natural nearly white eyes, the only difference being that now they weren't useless. His face broke into a smile, once again opening his split lips, "You look better that way, Maggie-bird." Having her look at him with those eyes, her true eyes, again after so long caused him to plead. "I wanted ta take care of her, ya know?"

"You can still have your chance, you know?"

"No, I can't. She's…gone…"

"How long until they come for you?"

"Not sure. At most, two days; at least ten minutes. Why?"

"You aren't looking so good…" she paused and tried to wipe a little of the blood off his cheek, but all Graverobber felt was cool and Mag's fingers came away clean. "You may see her before they fetch for you, yet."

_She's gonna come through too? Please, please let her not know what happened…let her know I tried…_

_Shut up yer whining for a second. You might want to find out what she means. _

_You would ask for a straight answer from the dead?_

_No, stupid, you would. _

"Does she hate me, Maggie-bird, just tell me that much."

"Honestly?" Graverobber growled to himself at the thought of being lied to at a time like this, and said so,

"If ya would be so kind, I'd rather ya didn't lie ta me if 'm gonna find out first hand 'nyways." Graverobber couldn't stop the thick sarcasm that was spread over his words. Mag just gave him a calm, unruffled look that told him that she was getting angry.

"You will have to ask her yourself." Feeling like Mag had just twisted a knife deep into his gut, Graverobber growled; then jumped about a foot in the air when there was a hesitant little knock at the door. Unworried, Mag simply looked towards the sound, Graverobber barked the words

"Come in." acutely aware of what had transpired the last time this situation had played out. Instead of the Pavi, however, a rather short GENtern entered, looking just like any other GENtern prowling the hallways. Her head and eyes were down a little under the dark red visor and a mass of bright auburn hair was thrown up hastily in a messy half ponytail, not unlike his own hair style. She was the epitome of mindless blow-up doll drone until she stepped through the doorway and promptly nearly tripped over herself in her heels. She cursed a little as she recovered from hitting the floor with a hand on the doorframe.

"Gr-Graverobber?" she asked in a teary voice. Graverobber started to scowl at her, thinking she was here for the kid's body.

_Damned if she thinks she's going to take it._

"Do I…KID?" it had taken a second for that voice to register in his grief and pain stricken brain. He watched in awe, struck silent for almost the first time in his life as she pulled the visor up, eyes wide, and put her finger against her lips.

"Will you shush! Are you trying to get us caught?" She finally looked him over without the bright red shield in front of her face and she gasped a little, her eyes filling with tears. "Oh my god, Graves…What did they do to you?" she whimpered and fell to her knees without thinking. He watched her bite her lip against the little scream that built behind her lips, but it seemed that the very worst of the withdrawals was on it's way out. Graverobber just stared at her, he'd just seen her killed! He'd watched Luigi…

_That rat bastard! That wasn't the fucking kid at all! Just some surgery done-up GENtern! _

_How could I be so stupid?_

_In your defense, it's what they do for a living; and twisted as they are, you've got to give the devils their due. _

_But she's…_

_Alive. _He didn't give her a chance to question him further, he reached out and crushed her to him, kissing her full and fiercely on the mouth; she gave a little squeak of surprise, but happily leaned into him. Blood covered her lips like a macabre lipstick when she finally pulled away. She looked a little cross eyed as she shook her head a little as if to clear cobwebs out and she rested her forehead on his and let out a little sigh.

"I…When you never came home I got worried and then I heard that they had you so I figured I had to get you out, since it was my fault you were in here in the first place…it was easy. I mean, GENterns come and go so fast it was cake getting in…" Her thoughts came tumbling out her mouth in a rush. Graverobber put two fingers over her lips to stop the stream of thought.

"Kid, yer fucking brilliant 'nd as soon as we're safe 'm gonna be so pissed that you snuck yer cute little ass in here when your sick just to save me." She tried to cover her blush by tugging at the hem of her short white uniform,

"Just wish being a secret agent came with less skimpy clothes…"

"I'm not complaining." She smiled shyly and ducked her head a little, her blush deepening,

"I couldn't leave you…I just…couldn't." she glanced worriedly over her shoulder, bit her lip again and sighed. "I have a way to get you outta here…but you need to not mind tight, dark places…"

"Kid, remember who yer talkin' to." He gave her his best smirk, "But we have a slight problem."

"What? I…what?"

"Onna my arms is nearly useless 'nd my leg's not in great shape." Shilo let a guilty look flood her features, was she thinking of her little "lesson"?

"You're not gonna be walking out of here…"

"No, kid, not walk." He glanced back at Mag who stood off to one side, looked torn between looking wistful that Graverobber now knew that Shilo was still alive and the nearly motherly pissed at Graverobber's little molestation of her. "I can try my damnedest though." He shifted so his good arm was against the bed and started wedging himself at least up to sit on the bed as Shilo looked down at her hands and gave them a guilty smile,

"See…I was thinking…they're looking for you, but if I can make you not you and make you dead then you can get out…" Graverobber froze and stared at her,

"Wait, what?" she looked up at him, "Kid, ya wanna run that by me again?" She stood shakily on the large, ridiculous heels and held her hands out to help him, worry stamped over her pixie-sized features.

"I…I figure if you're already dead they won't notice. And if you're not you dead…" She was having trouble forming her plan into words, that much was obvious, "Look, hold on a sec." She turned and scampered clumsily out of the door again, brushing right past Mag, without seeing her. Graverobber looked at Mag,

"I don't think she knows I'm supposed to be…" he drew his good hand across his neck, "publicly, does she?" Mag shook her head as Shilo came back, struggling under the weight of a rather large, lopsided bag.

"They keep a lot of people in rooms up here…and if I can make you like someone else…" she reached into the bag and pulled out a short blonde wig. "GENterns, in between being all gross with Pavi, lug some of the bodies downstairs. You get where I'm going yet?"

"I get it, kid, 'nd yer a genius, but we need to stop and talk this out quick. First and foremost I'm worried about yer health-" She looked up, nearly her whole damned arm inside the bag and blew a few strands of stray hair out of her face,

"No. No me. You always take care of me. It's time to take care of you, damnit." Graverobber couldn't keep the small smirkish grin off his face. He was just lucky he wasn't grinning like an idiot because of the deep relief he felt that she was not only safe but here with him.

"Come 'er, kid." She dropped the bag and walked over to him. She knelt much like Mag had, knees together and to the side, very lady-like; but the look on her face was completely defiant.

"Yes?" Graverobber cupped that defiant little face in his hands and kissed her firmly again,

"Can you drag me outta here?" he looked her right in the slightly star-struck eyes, "No bravado, no nothing, can you physically drag my ass outta here in that thing?" He felt her shiver a little under his hands as the withdrawals flared a little and she arched her back and her eyes rolled back, before she shook her head to clear it.

"Yeah. I can. I think. Might have to ditch the giant heels of death, but I can. If it means getting you home and safe I'll do anything…" she blushed deeply at her little confession.

"You know what'll happen if you trip, right? Er fall?" she ignored him for a second and started pulling slightly wrinkled clothes out of the bag,

"They were Dad's. Should kinda fit. You change while I go look for your stuff…" she started to leave before he could argue. She paused at the doorway and looked back at him, "And Graves?" she tossed him the clothes and wig, a mirror of his own smirk on her face, "I won't trip." He chuckled to himself as she disappeared through the door, then turned an unamused look at the expanse of ridiculous looking clothing in front of him. He shared a sarcastic look with Mag, who was characteristically silent through all this.

"I'd almost 've preferred the gods be damned Repo-coat…" he muttered as he pulled his tee-shirt he'd been left with off and pulled a hideous looking button up one on. 


	11. Chapter 11

By the time Shilo came scampering back into the room, arms full of a familiar tangle of cloth and leather, Graverobber had his clothes flattened at the bottom of the body bag and Nathan Wallace's clothes had replaced them.

_And you thought sleeping in his bed was bad, now you're wearing his clothes. _

_Shut up, I really don't want to talk about this right now._ Graverobber muttered, frustrated, under his breath as he struggled to put the wig Shilo had pulled out of her bag a tricks over his multi-colored locks.

"I couldn't find your gun or vials, but I think I have the rest…" Shilo said as she spread his things out in the body bag along with his other clothes. She wrinkled her nose in discomfort and she slid the high GENtern shoes off with a grimace and a small whimper. A flash of pain flashed across her face, with a small smile right on its heels, "See? I'm fine, no worries." She finally looked at him for the first time since she'd come back into the room, she tried not to laugh at the obvious fool he was making of himself with the wig. Annoyed, he just let it hang in his hands like a skinned animal; he looked at the pain wavering in her eyes and the way that she bit her bottom lip as she got to her feet. He gave her a firm look,

"Look, kid, when we get outta here alright, you can scream all you want to at home." She nodded and put on a brave face; she took the wig and knelt in front of him. Clutching the wig in her teeth, she pulled his hair back in a low ponytail. Graverobber smirked, "Yer too good at this, kid, 'll make a criminal outta ya yet." She laughed through the wig and tugged his new ponytail a little,

"You kidding? I learned how to do this… when I was little. Now be careful. This one's one of my favorites." She tilted him forward and pulled the wig up and over so it settled on his head. Personally, Graverobber felt the full costume was a little extensive, however he could see why she'd chosen to play better safe then sorry. If anyone opened the bag, it was easier to pretend to be dead and not look like himself.

Suddenly he noticed that Shilo had gotten very quiet and she was staring straight at the space behind him.

"G-Graves…Wh-what's that?" Her eyes got wide as she stared at the bloody corpse, dressed nearly in her clothes that lay, broken on the carpet.

_I..I thought it was you…_

"Don't ask, kid, lets just get the hell outta here." He said, dragging himself over and settling into the body bag. Once there he sorted out where everything was going to go so there weren't any strange lumps that would raise suspicion. He knew that she could see the similarities, the dark hair, the pale skin, the purple outfit not unlike her own. When she finally turned back to him, her eyes were brimming with tears,

"But..I..no…No. I'm here and I'm getting you home." She leaned over and cupped his face in her little hands. She kissed him gently, the complete opposite as he just had, and when she pulled away the tears had dried in her eyes, "You're coming home and I won't Ever let them hurt you again." She ran her gaze over his clothes and hair again and stood; she wobbled a little on her way over to the corpse and she placed both hands in the congealing blood, almost like a child in finger paint. Graverobber watched her with a morbid curiosity, he glanced worriedly at Mag, but she simply looked away from Shilo and walked quietly into the hallway.

"Kid, What er ya doin'?" She didn't answer as she began smearing the cold blood over his clothes, face and wig. She smiled wistfully as she painted across the bridge of his nose.

"You looked too clean. Better now…okay, are you as comfy as you can be?"

"Most comfortable man inna body bag." He answered smartly as he lay down and settled himself into the bag. Shilo bent and slid the zipper closed with one hand and adjusted the hem of her dress with the other, her face set as Graverobber had almost never seen it before. There was a steel in his kid that he saw a bit the night of the Opera, but a steel that the Z had started to weaken; now that she was coming off of it, that strength was returning. He felt her grab at the bag near his head and pause,

"This is gonna hurt, Graves, I'm sorry." She lifted the bag hesitantly,

"If ya can get me outta here, Kid, it doesn't matter." She began pulling, "Don't worry 'bout me too much, alright?"

"I can't help worrying, silly. What would you do if I didn't?" she paused in speech but kept pulling along haltingly, "You…might want to pass out…There's a long hall, then the elevator…but there's stairs leading to the outside." Graverobber gathered that they'd finally reached the door when he heard the handle rattle and the door creak open. Graverobber sighed to himself when he realized that this was indeed going to be a long trip. He did his best to shallow his breathing so as not to give them away too quickly and muttered to himself,

"Can't believe this is happening…" Suddenly Mag appeared above him, face nearly touching his own. After he stifled a shout of surprise and swallowed his heart back into his chest, Graverobber found himself looking straight into Mag's old eyes so intimately for the first time in years. He'd met her just before her Cornea Plus surgery when her eyes were replaced with Marni's new perfected ones and Graverobber had fallen in love with them first.

They'd been what had set her apart from being perfect, her biggest "flaw" and even then Graverobber had loved them better then any pair of "perfect" eyes he'd ever seen. Molted blue, green, and hints of yellow, all covered over with a pretty fluttering of grey. And here they were again.

_You, sir, are an ass. _

"Which part can't you believe?" she asked, appearing to be very comfortable as she lay nearly across him, yet seemed to be hovering just above his borrowed clothes.

"Maggie-bird, how'd you get in here?"

"How does anyone get into a body bag?"

"I didn't die first, thank you."

"You're welcome." She gave him that far away smile that he'd grown to both love and hate, "Now what have we learned?" Shilo gave the bag a sharp tug as if to send him a message.

"Amber's a flaming bitch, never except coffee from a homicidal Italian 'nd little girls who barely weight 100lbs soaking wet holding a brick, can drag the bodies of 200+ criminals long distances." Mag gave him her unflappably annoyed look,

"Now I know there was something about 'Keeping the Faith' in there…"

"Yeah.. yeah…" Mag didn't seem to quite realize just how close she was to him and Graverobber wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. Though above him was a place he'd had Mag before; hovering over him while she wasn't even corporeal while his current little skirt dragged his ass down the hallway.

_Oh, so now she's your little skirt, is she? _

_Shut up._

"Will you quit talking to yourself? You're gonna get us caught!" Shilo hissed as the bag slowed to a halt. Her voice was strained and breathless, but she continued tugging along, "Geez…why don't you just scream 'graves' at this point!"

"You're in trouble…"Mag whispered in a voice that she rarely used; the one that showed the little Princess through the air of the regal Queen. Graverobber glared at her and hissed,

"I'm aware." Mag giggled a little, and her face started to become less defined as she started to fade,

"I could leave you alone in here…" Graverobber started to panic a little, though he wouldn't let himself admit it. He heard Shilo muttering to herself just outside the plastic nylon,

"Oh you are so gonna get it. Ignoring me…" and then something whispered about 'picking up another stray.' Graverobber looked at Mag, and he tried to keep the panic he felt rising out of his voice,

"Granted, while the fact that I haven't been this close to you in years," he gave her his best flirtatious smile under the circumstances, "I'm gonna go with the whimp phrase of 'don't leave me'. Just…shut up." Mag became more solid and smacked his chest, it felt like being hit with a firm burst of frozen air.

"You don't have to talk back, you know. Then again…maybe you do." He smirked at her,

"Always." Shilo was tugging harder for a minute and Graverobber heard a low growl that he was rather impressed with.

_Think we can make her growl like that when we're not all bound up in a body bag?_

_Really? You're going to torture me like that now when I can't even stand? You're not a nice man. _

_I know we're not a nice man. _

_Fuck you. _

There was a loud slam of a button being pushed and Shilo let out a string of curses that didn't sound like she'd picked them up on her own.

"Stupid…oww…button…" Graverobber felt his eyebrows knit together in concern and he attempted to look through the fabric of the bag to check on her.

"Ya 'k, kid?" Mag made the motion of locking her lips with a key and pretended to toss it daintily over her shoulder.

"Fine." The word was clipped and short and the whirring sound announced the arrival of the elevator, the doors opened and Shilo pulled him quickly inside. He heard Shilo let out a sigh of relief and a little whimper of pain.

All too soon the ding of the elevator signaled their arrival at the ground floor and Shilo sighed a little and began pulling again. Graverobber felt a rock settle into the center of his chest, who did he think he was? Making a poor, sick little girl risk her life dragging his stupid worthless ass out of the lions den?

_What am I do-_

"Oh…um…heh. Hi! Big guy…" Shilo's voice tore into his self-deprecation, "Heavy…and…yeah…Bye!"

"Uh oh." Mag muttered. Graverobber felt that rock turn ice cold and slip into his stomach,

"Who is she talking to?" he mouthed to Mag.

"A guard I believe…" Mag stuck her head out of the bag and appeared to be looking around as Shilo mentioned something about stairs and them sucking. Graverobber tried not to be weirded out by the fact that Mag's body was still nearly laying on top of his and her head had passed through the bag and had disappeared from sight. "Yes…and I do not think she was following protocol…"

_Fuck._

"We're gonna get caught aren't we?" he mouthed at Mag.

"Ready?" Shilo asked, Graverobber assumed that they'd finally reached the stairs. Mag crossed her fingers in a sign of hope,

"As I'll ever be, kid." Graverobber tensed his body as much as he could, muscles screaming at the strain. Shilo began pulling double-time, probably to get to the bottom as quickly as she could. This, however, didn't stop Graverobber's bad leg from bouncing against each and every step; he bit his lip sharply to keep from screaming as white hot pain shot through his body. Mag flinched every time his legs came in contact with the cement, and while he appreciated the sympathy it wasn't really helping. He squeezed his eyes shut and willed himself to pass out.

Shilo tripped down the last few steps and Graverobber couldn't suppress the grunt of agony as his head and shoulders bounced against the sidewalk.

"Oww… Sorry! Hold on a sec…" Even above the screaming of his body, he could hear her bare feet scamper away for a few seconds and then come pattering back. He felt her grab hold of the bag once more, "You okay, Graves?" she asked as she resumed pulling, Graverobber let his eyes open a little,

"Yeah, kid… Great." He hated hearing the strain in his own voice but he realized that at this point he was lucky that his voice worked at all. He managed to glace up at Mag, who looked sympathetic. Graverobber could hear whimpering from outside the bag as Shilo started dragging again, he could tell that she was slowing.

"I'm sorry.. I'm sorry! You'll be home soon…" she whimpered, her voice was thick with a mixture of pain and tears.

"How does that sound, Graverobber? 'Home'?" Mag asked him, voice gentle.

"You know how it sounds to me, Maggie-bird." He muttered. He hadn't had a place to really call home since he was small, he'd lived plenty of places, sure, but this was the first time he'd let someone refer to a place as 'home'. It tore at a part of him he'd thought long since dead, buried with most of the people he'd cared most about in the world.

She continued dragging him for several minutes before she stopped and Graverobber saw the zipper on the bag move and suddenly he could see the little red-headed doesn't-wanna-be GENtern with tears sliding down her face, clutching a small bundle of her own clothes, which she promptly shoved into the bag and knelt beside the bag. "Okay.. time for the next step of the plan…"

"Kid, kid I'm fine. Gods.. don't cry, 'm good. What's the rest of yer plan, kid?"

"Truck should come by soon. We're hitching a ride." She wiped the tears off her face before Graverobber could find his arms long enough to do so and she glanced behind her. "You think I can fit in there too? Cause I don't think I can walk much longer…" Without thinking, Graverobber moved the flap of the bag side to give her more room, he grunted in pain when he moved his arm, but he held it there anyway.

"Come 'er, kid. Get in." He glanced at the ghostly apparition of his ex, wondering if they were all going to actually fit in the bag. Mag seemed to nearly read his mind, as she often had, and gave him a small smile,

"I think I will walk…" Shilo sniffled as she carefully crawled into the bag and lay down on top of him.

"Hurts…" she whimpered as her lower body dipped to match his and her head snuggled into his chest.

"I kow it hurts, kid, I know." He looked up and muttered to Mag, who'd gotten off him, out of the bag and was standing on the side, looking heartbreakingly tenderly down at Shilo. "There are no more rules 'nymore, Maggie." Shilo whimpered in his arms, her hands had a death grip on his borrowed clothes and she was shaking from pain. "What'd you say?"

"Nutin, kid. We're almost home." He pulled the zipper on the bag closed, but for some reason, Mag shone through it like colored light though fabric.

"No…I mean she came so far for you… I will meet you at the house later… Maybe I will just enjoy being out in the evening air…" this thought seemed to entice Mag as she glanced around her a little before looking back down at them.

"You'll know when we get to the graveyard? I hurt too much to move right now. You're wicked heavy…" she whimpered as another tremor of pain shot through her and she shuttered in his arms. He wrapped his bad arm around her tightly as he dared; even still his shoulder screamed its protest. He kissed his fingers and gave Mag a bowing gesture, sure that she could still see him through the bag, as a farewell.

"Yeah, kid, I'll know." Mag curtsied at him, a teasing smile gracing her lips and she whispered goodbye to Shilo until she faded completely, a warm smile on her face. Shilo shook her head against his chest and made a small scoffing sound.

"I could have sworn I…huh…"

"Coulda sworn what?"

"I thought I heard my God Mom…" she nuzzled into his shirt, tears seeping through the fabric and brushing his skin. "Didn't mean to hurt you." She whispered as they heard the truck pull up. Graverobber attempted to be as comforting as he could and he made small circles on her back with his good arm, moving slowly as to not alert the Bag Men to the fact that the inhabitants of the bag hadn't yet moved on.

"Ya didn't hurt me, kid." He whispered.

"Hope now.. Now hush or we'll never make it home." Graverobber froze and swallowed an amused chuckle as they were lifted and thrown unceremoniously into the back of the Body Truck. He grunted a little, unable to keep himself from doing so. Shilo had bit into the fabric of his shirt to stifle her scream, she'd actually bit into his flesh, which was frankly the nicest feeling pain he'd dealt with all day. He made a noise that was half comfort, half pleasure, thankfully she seemed to miss the second part.

"I'll be fine…are you okay?"

"Yeah. Don't worry."

_I'll be even better when neither of us are in crippling pain and I've got you in this same position, kid. Only you won't be wearing that cute little dress. _Graverobber did his best to ignore the fantastic suggestion from his subconscious and tried to comfort the kid, who was currently sniffling against his chest.

"It's a short ride, kid." She nodded and attempted to relax.

This lasted all of about, thirty seconds before she reached up and went to unzip the bag, probably for some fresh air. It took all of his control that wasn't currently keeping himself from cursing his pain towards the stars, to zip the bag back up.

"It's safer to not, kid. There might be someone waiting on the back like we did, remember?" He certainly did, how she was unfazed at riding on the back of a body truck, her boots planted firmly on the ledge and her tiny hands clutching the bar. Calm and composed as a lady riding a trolley in yester-years. "We'll be out of here, soon." He assured her. She nodded again and shivered, it seemed like the cold and dark were really starting to get to her.

"Okay, I trust you." She whimpered as she buried her chilly nose into his neck and nuzzled there, trying to get comfortable. Unbidden, memories of her teeth biting into his chest earlier and then the sounds she made when he'd touched her rose to his mind and he did his best to shove them away. Sadly this wasn't the time or the place for thoughts that didn't involve figuring out how to get out of this mighty fine predicament.

Less then ten minutes later the truck stopped and they felt themselves being shifted as the truck moved to dump the bodies. Instinctively, Graverobber grabbed the kid and held her close, hoping they were going to roll enough that they were going to end up with her on top. They tumbled painfully and landed on something that was both hard and squishy and they felt other bodies come tumbling down on top of them. Shilo bit into his shirt again and he heard the scream, thankfully it was partially drowned by the sound of the retreating truck.

"Can we please get out now?" she whimpered, voice slightly hoarse as she spoke into his shirt.

"Give them a minute to leave." He assured her.

"The coast is clear…" Mag whispered from outside the bag and only then did Graverobber reach up and unzip the zipper and let the kid out. She had an arm full of her regular clothing which she flopped down on his chest and started to zip the bag back up again.

"Okay…few more minutes and you'll be home."

"Kid. Stop." She froze and looked at him, she even stopped zipping the bag back up as she stared. "You don't have to drag me 'nymore. We're safe down here. I disabled this camera months ago." She sighed and gave him a look,

"Can you walk miraculously, now?" she shifted her weight from foot to foot, the decaying flesh probably feeling disgusting on her bare feet.

"'ll figure it out. Unzip it 'nd 'll see what I can do." Shilo sighed, aggravated, her face was scrunched and her eyebrow was arched so high that it nearly dissapered under the bangs of her wig.

"O-kay…" she said and unzipped the bag and stood back, waiting to see what he would do. Mag was standing just behind Shilo and watching him over her shoulder,

"There are no more rules, remember?"

"No rules." He muttered to himself.

* * * * * *

A/N Sorry it's been so long guys, This was supposed to be a longer chapter, but I sort of like where it ends here. Much more to come.

L.F.

p.s. I have the beginnings of a few Repo!fied Greek myths and a hesitant start on a Repo/Kingdom Hospital X-over. Anyone interested if I post them?


	12. Chapter 12

Graverobber lay in the bag for a minute, acutely aware of the fact that two pairs of female eyes were watching him intently, both sure that he was doing something very stupid.

_Well, you are doing something stupid, dumbass. You're broken. You should prolly make the kid just leave you here. _

_Fuck you._ Graverobber thought to himself as he mentally took stock of what parts of his body had gone numb, which parts were still bleeding or bleeding again, what parts where throbbing and which parts, hopefully, wouldn't give way under his weight.

Shilo tilted her head to the side as she watched him,

"Yeah, see…now you're talking like a crazy person.. There's no way you can make it back without being hurt more and I can't deal with you hurting anymore!" Suddenly, she realized what she said and a deep blush crept deeply into her cheeks and she shut her mouth and looked at the ground. Graverobber rolled out of the confines of the bag and glanced up at the kid, resisting the overpowering urge to glance up that…belt she was wearing. He flashed her a brave grin when she glanced back up from the floor to check on his progress.

"Don't worry, kid, I've been through worse." She sighed and began gathering their clothes and belongings out of the bag; it was obvious that she was trying to keep the tiny whimpers to a minimum as she stooped.

"Well you shouldn't have to. Come on, you stubborn pain…" Graverobber levered his good arm against the torso of the cadaver next to him and slid his good leg up under him. Fighting to keep the grimace off his face, he stood, barely wavering even on the decaying bodies. He glanced down at where Shilo was still half kneeling, that slip of fabric barely covering that delightful little ass.

"Let's go, kid." Shilo stood and looked up at him, all the frustration was gone from her face. She tucked his good arm over her tiny shoulders and wrapped her arm around his waist as she tried to juggle everything.

"Come on… at least lean on me?"

"Or you can lean on each other…" Mag suggested softly.

"At least give me somma those bags." Shilo nodded and handed him some of the lighter things so that they wouldn't hurt his bad arm. She walked forward slowly, her face screwed up at the bodies under her feet. Graverobber tried to keep himself from laughing at her,

"The bodies bothering you, kid?"

"Only…ugh…when they squish between…ick. My toes…" she said, prancing about as best she could, face still scrunched up as she fast approached the place where they'd first met. So far the pain seemed to be ebbing a little, at least while she was uninhibited.

_No. _

_What no?_

_You can't pick her up and carry her over the bodies. You can barely hold your own hardware, what makes you think you can pick up the spunky little shut-in?_

Mag was following close behind Shilo, looking concerned every time that the girl whimpered or let out a particularly loud noise of disgust because she'd hit a particularly ripe body.

"Almost…there.." she muttered, voice still carrying across the empty room full of what had once been people.

"I know, kid. The tomb's unlocked, right?"

"Always is." She answered, sighing happily as she finally stepped off the last of the bodies and through the wall, its hole still in place even after months.

* * * * * *

Once he got to the tomb, Graverobber leaned on the doorframe for a minute before opening the door and gesturing her inside, managing to cover how much he was actually leaning on the door by giving her a gentlemanly bow. He glanced up and down the street, making sure the coast was clear and they weren't being followed. His entire body had stopped being on fire a while ago and it was like he was rolling around in a pit of white hot knives. Mag was inside and had somehow managed to muscle open the door on the inside that lead up to the house. Shilo stumbled in a little as she entered and she leaned against the door on the inside to hold it open.

"Come on, Graves…just have to head upstairs and into bed and you'll be okay…" Graverobber gave himself another second to steel himself against the onslaught of pain he knew was coming as soon as he moved. That done, he moved across the room as smoothly as he could, doing his best to play off just how much pain he was in. He playfully cupped her chin in one hand and gave her a smirk before grabbing the bags out of her hands and swinging them up on his good shoulder; he leaned against the rocky stone of the tunnel on his way up. He could feel Shilo behind him, he was sure her eyes were worried,

"When you get to the stairs, you will let me help you. No arguments." She said as they entered the house proper,

"'k, kid, whatever you say." He answered as he headed past the empty bird cage and started up the stairs on his own, his body had stopped screaming and frankly most of it was numb, except for what was actively being pressed against something. Shilo sighed and nearly threw herself in front of him, ignoring her own flinch of pain as she landed on the stairs, blocking his way,

"Bags. Now. Use the railing and me and take your time…"

"Or you could hand me the bags, Graves…" Mag said, a sardonic smile on her face. Graverobber half smiled as he glanced at her,

"No rules?" he glanced back at Shilo, but spoke to both of them, "I hold by the rule that the Lady doesn't carry the bags."

"I fear I may have stopped being a proper Lady sometime ago…" Graverobber was stunned by this, he grabbed the railing tightly for balance, the small bag of Shilo's clothing swinging wildly as he bowed deeply, taking Mag's hand and kissing it as he had so many times before,

"Never, m'Lady." He could see Shilo out of the corner of his eye looking at him as though he'd lost his mind.

"Bags, Graverobber or I will take them from you." She said, trying to look tough, her arms were crossed against her chest, one hand held out to him. Graverobber sighed and made a big show of handing her only her costuming bag that now held her normal clothing. Mag was smiling off to the side,

"Tsk, tsk, You'll give the game away…" Shilo took the bag that he handed her and held out the other hand, waiting.

"All of it, Mister." She was waiting for his harvesting kit, which was settled carefully against his back where it always had been.

"This isnt' that heavy, kid."

"All of them, so you can use the railing and me."

"Really, I've always carried it."

"No arguments. Gimme the bag, honey. Please?" Graverobber tried not to show the shock on his face at the pet name. He'd rarely been called anything other then his name unless someone truly wanted something, something bigger then to carry his bags so he could collapse himself into bed. With a sigh that reached though his entire being, Graverobber pulled the bag up over his head and held it just out of her reach,

"I'll give this to you if you use the railing yourself 'nd I'll be okay just using it and my own stubborn willpower. Okay?"

"Give and Take, Shi?" Mag whispered. Shilo nodded and smiled, liking the compromise that they'd reached.

"Alright, alright…but make sure you at least try and be careful. If I lost you…" she trailed off, shaking her head as she moved to the railing and started upwards, giving in on her side of the bargain, "Bag, please." Graverobber handed the bag over along with a kiss to Shilo's cheek. Her head snapped up, fully to attention, face a bright red. She took the bag and managed to wiggle into the strap before offering him her hand. "Thank you." Graverobber allowed himself a chuckle before he started up the stairs, hauling himself up mostly by his good arm, trying to gain as much speed as he could, hoping the momentum would work in his favor. He could hear Mag giggling in the background as he headed straight into the kid's room and let himself fall on his back on the bed. The pain that shot through him when his body hit the mattress was almost enough to make him cry out and all he could do was let a deep growl out. He glanced over at Mag and gave her a tired half smirk,

"Somethin' funny, Maggie?"

"You don't seem to need a formal invitation…Keep her bed warm…" Graverobber chuckled a little,

"Not a problem." Shilo wandered in behind him and dumped their stuff on the small loveseat near the window before carefully placing his toolkit on the piano bench. She tugged the visor off, she reached up and pulled her normal wig off the butterfly wig head and bashfully looked towards him,

"Comfy?"

"I'm not being tortured. I'm laying on the fluffy bed of a pretty girl 'nd 'm being watched by two. I'm good."

"Try to get her to sleep," Mag whispered, she smiled at Shilo though her god daughter hadn't seemed to see her just yet, "She needs it as much as you tonight…and I don't' need the rest."

"Gonna go visit some old ghosts?" Graverobber teased, Shilo looked at him strangely again a blush creeping over her cheeks from the compliments, "Come 'er, kid, lay down." She glanced down, embarrassed,

"I have to get out of this wig. Not to mention this ridiculous excuse of a dress first, but I don't want to leave you alone…"

"I don't mind." He told her, meaning that he didn't mind if she changed her wig here,

_You don't mind if she changes her dress in here either. _

_Yes, I do. I'm in way to much pain to truly enjoy that show. _He thought to himself as she smirked, then did his best to crawl up the bed and got as comfortable as he could.

"This house…" Mag muttered to herself, voice far away, dreamy, she didn't seem to be fully in the conversation. Graverobber was almost worried when he watched her perk, her beautiful eyes widening with an almost malicious delight, "I want to be around when the fireworks start…"

_Fireworks?_

"Only Dad saw me without the wig…I look ridiculous."

"You'll see…" Mag said in that singsong voice,

"I saw ya once, kid, remember? I saw ya without it once 'nd ya were just as stunning without hair as with."

"Still it's…oh fine." Stubbornly setting her jaw she pulled off the red wig and paused, as if to show him that it didn't bother her as much as it did. A deep blush of humiliation crept into her cheeks as she faced him, just as beautiful bald as she was with whatever chameleon color of hair she sported that day. Finally she pulled the black one back on and picked up her nightgown, biting her bottom lip. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up. I'll be back. Please don't move!"

"I'm not going anywhere." Mag sat down at the edge of the bed as Shilo nodded and hurried out, head ducked, still obviously embarrassed. Once she was safely out of sight, Graverobber sighed and looked down at Mag.

"It's been a long day, Maggie…"

"It could have been much longer." Graverobber let out a humorless half chuckle,

"Could have been a lot shorter too.." he said with a shutter.

"But here you are. "

"Here I am. There you are. There she went." He was starting to feel a little loopy from pain and sleep deprivation.

"Ah, she'll be back."

"Leavin' me, Maggie?" He couldn't help but admit to himself that he didn't want her to go. He fully understood that their relationship had been over, very over, for years since the night she'd told him he was bad for her and that he needed to leave, with tears in her eyes. Even as a young man, he'd left without making a scene, knowing it would only hurt her more; but before he disappeared out the window he'd just entered from, he swore to her that she'd never have to sing alone on stage again.

He'd kept that promise. He'd even been there in the Opera House, in disguise of course, when she'd sung her last note. He watched his brave little bird gouge her ill-begotten eyes, her slave chains, from her face with a smile; watched Rotti cut the cord that plummeted Mag to her death. He understood and accepted that they'd never again be lovers or even as close as they'd attempted to be, he wouldn't have wanted it that way anyway; they were friends now, pure and simple. But that wasn't going to stop him from flirting with her the same way he did with any other pretty female, especially one of worth, that set herself in his path.

"Paranoid, Graverobber?"

"Remember I'm a little boy at heart, Maggie."

"Lets home you never mature, then."

* * * * * *

Shilo's return was heralded by the clean smell of soap that tickled Graverobber's nose. She appeared in all her innocent little glory in a old fashioned little nightgown, complete with white lace with a red ribbon around her neck, that was nearly as short and the GENtern dress she'd just removed.

_What was she complaining about?_

_Don't knock it. _

She held a bowl with a wash cloth draped over the side of the bowl. She carried the bowl over and sat it down on her bedside table (recently vacated of all the would-be medical equipment) and Graverobber saw that it was filled with water, hot water judging by the steam rising from it. Shilo nodded at her father's clothes,

"Get that stuff off. I need to clean you up." Graverobber sighed,

"Can't I just lay here and bleed into my clothes again?" Shilo eyes narrowed into a nearly terrifying glare,

"No. Now then…Strip, Graverobber, I'm not asking again." She commanded, dipping the wash cloth into the hot water.

_Did she just ask me to…_

_Yes. As you said before, don't knock it. Just do what the little lady tells you._

"Okay, kid, whatever you say." He lifted his good arm and started to undo the buttons on the shirt, struggling a little, "This is gonna take a minute." Shilo nodded while he continued to struggle with his shirt,

"Alright, I need to see if I can find some bandages and something for the pain…" she reached under his head and removed a small folded velvet case from inside her pillow. Movement of the flaps reveled a little, home-made lock picking kit, with which Shilo set at opening the top dresser drawer.

……

_This kid's full of surprises!_

With difficulty he finished undoing the buttons and began peeling the shirt from his skin. He actually had to rip at it in places where the dried or drying blood had glued it to his flesh. Thankfully his one pained grunt was drowned out by the kid's victorious little squeak when the drawer popped open.

"Jackpot!" Suddenly a slightly smaller model Z-gun appeared in her hands and after a few more seconds of rooting around, so did a small glowing vial.

"Whoa, now hold on there, kid!" Graverobber wasn't thrilled at the slight panic raising in him at the sight of the gun being loaded by those little hands. He was sure he'd be fine when it was he in control, but frankly, after what happened the last time the kid shot him up…

"You're hurt. Now shush. Take your medicine." She approached him on the bed, clicking the vial into place,

"Yeah, right!" Shilo looked stern as she poked him in his bare chest with one finger,

"Graves, you're hurt. You are going to take your meds or so help me I will tie you down and make you! And then where would your big, bad, grave-robbing pride be? Hmm?" Graverobber wasn't happy that he heard Mag snickering at the foot of the bed.

"Can we talk about this a little before you get carried away?" she sighed and nodded, placing the small gun on her lap and reaching for the wash cloth,

"Fine. We talk as I clean you up."

"I'm a little gun-shy 'bout now, kid. Member what happened last time I got shot up?" He watched that little face go from a stern, nearly adult look, and crumple into that of a heart-broken child.

"I…oh gods it's my fault they got you in the first place!"

"Kid, relax. They would have gotten me at some point anyway." She sniffled softly and shook her head, dunking the wash cloth in the water, probably more times then was necessary before ringing it out and starting to wipe the dried blood off his chest.

"I…but it's my fault…even if you say it's not, it is-" he placed his hand over her mouth firmly. Attempting to ignore the fact that right now his hand took up nearly half her face, he spoke,

"Kid. Amber's been gunning for me for years. She's prolly had wet dreams about doing something like this since before you started pinning bugs. It's not yer fault." She whimpered against his palm, her eyes were big and he could see tears shining in them. She nodded a little before pushing his hand away, dunking the cloth again and starting back in on wiping his chest,

"If you say so…" Graverobber took the wash cloth straight out of her hands and looked straight at her, he tilted her head up and made her look him in the eye.

"Kid, lookit me." He felt Mag get up from the edge of the bed and slowly make her away to the other side of the room, attempting to give them privacy without actually leaving. Shilo looked up at him, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. "This. Was. Not. Your. Fault." Graverobber stretched each word out carefully, enunciating each one. "Repeat after me: Amber is an evil harpy from the fiery pits of some unimaginable hell." Shilo sighed before she mumbled,

"Amber's an evil harpy from some fiery hell pit…thing…" she started to look away.

"Kid." He caught her attentions again,

"Yes, Graves?"

"Luigi is a twisted bastard who gets off on spilling the blood of others."

_Getting a little poetic, aren't we?_

_Shut up. _

Shilo just wrung her hands together idly and started to not look at him again.

"I, Shilo Wallace," he caught her attention again by saying her name carefully, "am in no way responsible for the actions of these two sick individuals."

_You forgot the Pavi._

_Everyone forgets the Pavi, sadly it's his lot in life. 'nd he's really not that bad when he's not pulling yer arm out of the socket or back handing you with a mirror. _

"Say it." Shilo took a deep breath and arched her eyebrow, "What? Do I get a prezzie after?" she asked.

"Sure, kid." Graverobber couldn't keep the trademark smirk off his face as he wondered just what sort of "prezzie" his kid's compliance would gain her. She nodded once, a blush forming on her cheeks again,

"I, Shilo Wallace am in no way responsible for the actions of these two sick individuals." Without giving her a second to breathe, Graverobber moved his hand from under her chin to the back of her head and pulled her forward quickly and kissed her hard. Shilo let out a little squeak against his lips, there was a whimper in the back of her throat before she let herself go sort of limp against him. Smirk firmly planted on his face, he let her go and calmly handed her back her wash cloth. Her hands were shaking slightly when she took it, and Graverobber frankly took a lot of pride in that.

_If I did that with a kiss…_ he thought to himself as she began washing his chest and arms again, her voice was breathy and her eyes were fluttering slightly when she whispered,

"Some present…" Hoping to take advantage of her complacent state, Graverobber laid back like a "good boy" and enjoyed the warm terry cloth as it passed over half the things that hurt.

"Now, we're gonna handle this like this: if you like yer gonna finish doin' what yer doin 'nd if yer gonna insist on my takin' medicine, grab me a couple aspirin 'nd then come lay down before you fall over." Shilo's dreamy features hardened again as she gave him a "do I look stupid to you?" look; she cleaned the wash cloth and wiped at the blood that probably coated his chin and the deep cut on his cheek, smirking playfully at him.

"You're taking the Z."

"No, I'm not."

"Oh yes you are. You're hurt." She sighed and looked away to put the wash cloth back in the bowl, when she looked back her eyes were full of worry and her lower lip was trembling, "Please, Graves? I can't bear you being in pain!"

"Kid…" he was doing his best to ignore that trembling lip.

_She's really that worried about me?_

_Did you miss the last like, two hours where she Broke You Out Of GeneCo?? I swear, sometimes I don't know what I bother with you anymore. _Graverobber gave a defeated sigh, between the seemingly never ending pain and that trembling, worry-filled expression, he knew he'd met his match.

"Not a full dose. I'll teach you how to do partial doses." Enough to take a lot of the edge off, but he would still be alert and functioning. Well, functioning like a man who was bordering on having one too many to drink, but still functioning fairly well. Shilo's face brightened conciderably,

"Fine, but that means you're not leaving my bed until I say so, got it? And I'll be a quick study, promise!"

_Okay. You will not hear me complain about not leaving your bed. _

_Sadly I don't think she's going to be here with us the whole time, nor would it be quite as enjoyable as we hope it would be._

"Whoa, whoa, easy there, eager-girl." She blinked up at him, lip in her teeth.

"I just want to help you."

"I know. Help me by slowing down fera sec." She swung one of her legs over his and sat down on what would have been his lap and settled down, lip in her teeth, gun in her hands. "I just know how to do this stu-" Graverobber let out a sharp growl of pain as suddenly the kid's weight had caught up with his wrenched ankle and a white blade of pain shot through his body. She blinked at him, clearly concerned but confused. "Kid. Yer on…my leg…" she looked down and quickly shot up and off his legs, ending up with her knees on either side of his hips, straddling him.

"Better?"

_Oh let me tell you how better that is, kid._

"Yeah, kid, that's better." He wished that hadn't hurt so gods be damned much so he could better enjoy the kid in the position she was in, but as his vision swam and threatened to black, he tried to keep his fuzzy mind on what he was doing. He was nearly undone when she squirmed a little, assumingly to get more comfortable, but he forced himself on the task at hand, "Now, you see this knob here?" she looked down at it, nodding and biting her lip in thought.

"Yup." She brought the gun up closer to see it better, "Do I just turn it a little or.."

"Yeah, the further you turn it to the left, the more you open it up and the bigger the hit. The further you turn it to the right, the less of a hit you get." She turned it ever so slightly to the right, glanced up at him, then when she caught sight of his glare, she turned it more to the happy medium they discussed.

"Okay, now…where do you want me to…cause I've only ever seen you do it to Amber…and I would have to get up."

_But..didn't she…_

_Now at least I get to teach her what to do. You realize if she'd strayed just a little further down that she could have potentially killed us last time, right? _

"You don't have to move, kid, just listen to me very carefully. Shooting people up with Z can be VERY dangerous. If you get them right on a major artery or vein, there is a 70something% chance you could kill them." Shilo's face looked stricken and she moved the gun a little further away from him, "Z is a relaxant, if it seeps down into your heart proper, without much time for it to dilute in your system, your heart will relax. Meaning it will stop."

_How many times we've been tempted to put an end to something Sweet like that… just an inch or two down from where she likes it… press in a little harder… a minute later she'd be dead with a smile on her face. _

"So where is safe?" Shilo's voice brought him out of his homicidal thoughts.

"The best places, kid, are here" he reached his good arm up and traced down from her ear where her throat met her jaw, then copied the movement on the other side. Shilo's eyes fluttered a little as she tried to pay careful attention to what he was saying. "Here." He traced down from her throat and traced above her collarbones with his thumb, a smile creeping over his face as Shilo finally let her eyes flutter closed. The pain part of her withdrawals had been over-used recently, he thought, there were some very fun parts to hyper-sensitivity. He'd be damned if he wasn't going to thank the kid as best he could for doing what she'd done for him. "and Here." He removed his hand and placed it on her thigh, sliding up upwards, taking her nightgown with him as he cupped the hallow of her hip and pressed slightly with his thumb, indicating the place. Unable to resist temptation, he playfully traced over the top of those burgundy panties to the other hip. She let out a strangled little whimper and Graverobber couldn't contain the predatory grin on his face.

Suddenly he heard Mag over by the window clear her throat. He was knocked back to reality and he moved his hand off the kid, bringing her nightgown back down to cover her as much as it would. "I would prefer here." He said, concluding the lesson and indicating just above his left collarbone. Shilo blinked a few times, her eyes dark with arousal, until she remembered why their little lesson had begun in the first place. She pressed the gun against his flesh and pulled the trigger. She looked down at him longingly as she got off him and slid down next to him, her leg coming up across his hips and pulling him close with her arms. Even after turning her on, the weight of the day had finally begun taking its toll on the kid and she was out like a light in less then a minute.

As soon as she'd hit the trigger, a blissful numbness wafted down Graverobber's body and he breathed a sigh of relief. The hit was a little bigger then he would have liked, apparently he'd seem like he'd decided to take that last shot after all, but the blue haze at the corners of his brain was exactly what he needed to get to sleep. The blinding pain was now nothing more then a sharp, yet dull ache everywhere and the kid really was warm next to him.

He allowed himself to settle back against the pillows and pull the kid close to him with one arm. He closed his eyes and just breathed for a minute.

_I'm safe, _he thought fuzzily, _I'm safe, I've got a cute kid that cares about me snuggled up close. Amber's far away, might not even have noticed that I'm gone yet. Nothing could go wro-_

"Hello, PackRat." Came a deep, masculine voice from much too close to the head of the bed.

_Sunovabitch. _


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: A little short, sorry guys, alots been goin on lately... Reviews are the bright spots of my day??

"_Sunovabitch."_

*****

"I mean.. Long time no see, Doc." Graverobber looked up at the very dead, very pissed off terror of the backstreets. Nathan Wallace stood barely five feet away from where his daughter lay, entwined with Graverobber, with a look on his face that could have curdled the blood of any debtor.

"What are you doing? In Bed? With my Daughter?" he growled. Graverobber glanced down at the ana-kid-na who'd trapped him in her tangle of pale arms and legs as if he'd disappear where he lay,

"Cuddlin' apparently."

"Let me try that again. _Why_ are you in bed with my Daughter?"

"She wouldn't let me sleep anywhere else. Claimed she's not leaving me alone again." Nathan looked a little stunned,

"Not…leaving…you…alone…" Graverobber managed to drag himself up further on the pillows so he could at least try to look Nathan in the eye; he gave the man half a smirk, yet again opening one of the nearly closed splits on his lip,

"Nope, apparently I can't be trusted by myself."

_WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? First you mouth off to the Largo's while your tied up and being beaten within an inch of your miserable little life and NOW you decide it's a great idea to not only mouth off to the father of yer current, under-aged bed companion, but also the most terrifying and successful ASSASSIN on the island??? Gods damn it! I knew you were stupid but I really don't know how much more of this I can take! _

Shilo nuzzled her face into his bare chest and frowned, almost like she was having a bad dream. Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose and frowned, his expression nearly matching his daughter's,

"I agree that you can't be trusted…" Attempting to just let this carry on as if it was a normal conversation,

"So, Doc, what brings you around at this time of day…night?"

"It's Night."

"Alright then, what brings you around this ungodly hour of the night?" Nathan stared at him, deadpan, a look any number of now vivisected Zaddicts could tell you was not the face of a man. Graverobber glanced around, looking for Mag, maybe for a little help. Mag was still standing over by the huge bay window, a dark frame against the neon glow of the city through the curtains. Her expression was somber, but when she caught Graverobber's eye she motioned for him to keep quiet. Evidently, Nathan hadn't seen Mag yet and that was at least one good thing.

"I couldn't sleep. Not knowing Amber's favorite little play toy was in the same house…Sorry, the same Bed, as my precious Shilo…" Graverobber sat up a little straighter, a fierce bolt of pride-filled fury shot through his chest as he growled out at Nathan,

"I'm no one's play toy. Least of all the Princess'."

_I resent that assumption_.

"Then there's the things you have been doing since the fall of Rotti…In _my_ house!" Graverobber raised a sarcastic eyebrow,

"Really? Like what?"

_Oh you know very well what._

"You see, there's been a rash of mistaken identities recently and I wanna make sure you've at least got the right man."

"Firstly, I would have thought Amber's little play thing would have been a little more aware as to when his Z-Gun was taken…" Graverobber shot up again, unthinkingly moving the kid gently with him as to not wake her,

"I am NOT her Plaything!" Shilo reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and gave a pained whimper as her forehead wrinkled again.

"So you say, though the phrase "I'll let you fuck my soul" comes to mind…I was on that bridge."

_Somebody saw that!? Fuck.. of all the people…_

"If you'll care to note, I wasn't the one who said it." Graverobber said smartly, "You've never made a poor partner choice, Doc?"

"I know _you_ didn't say it…In fact I believe you had that same little glint in your eye then as you did when looking at Shi a few times…" Almost as if she was sensing his distress, Shilo's little hand crept from his heart and entwined itself in his hair, shivering a little. Graverobber pulled the blanket up around her tiny shoulders, eyes never leaving Nathan, "As far as my partner choices…Marni was my only love, I didn't have time for relationships in Pre-Med or Medical School."

_Is it actually possible to sound pathetic and like you're saying "fuck you" at the same time?_

"Alright, find, you've never had the wrong person scratch an itch, -"

"Don't call me a saint."

"Don't call me a plaything." Graverobber countered.

"Fine." There was so much compressed rage packed into that one word, Graverobber was half surprised Nathan's head hadn't actually exploded yet. As if she were reacting to her father's anger, Shilo cringed and whimpered in her sleep; unconsciously, Graverobber pulled her a little closer with the arm he still had wrapped around her shoulders and rubbed his face with the other hand. Finally the anger in his voice started marching its way across Nathan's face,

"So, Amber's little Sex-Toy," Graverobber let out a vicious snarl,

"_I'm not Amber's little Anything!"_ Nathan ignored him,

"Do I need to go into how you have treated my Daughter in _my_ house? Like the ass slap? Or should I skip to the hand down her shirt?"

"You were there for that?" Shilo cuddled closer, burying her nose in his neck, her warm breath causing his hair to tickle his neck slightly. "I'll admit, Doc, I came on a little strong-" Nathan was reaching towards them, his face icy. Just has Graverobber was convinced that he was headed towards his neck, Nathan's hand stroked through Shilo's hair as if he'd never died.

"I made her a promise. I don't break my promises."

"It wasn't just a promise to her, was it, Doc?" Graverobber snapped, remembering a sweet, dark haired woman now long dead. Her eyes sparkled as she held Nathan's shirt in her hands after she'd hopped up a little to kiss him, one hand on her barely showing stomach, "'You'll keep her safe, right Nate? She's special, I know it.'" It was a low blow, Graverobber was sure; this was confirmed when Nathan's slightly loving, parental look became pure stony fury at the sound of his words. Nathan turned his dead eyes on Graverobber and snarled,

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Meaning I'm not so sure medically induced isolation is what your wife had in mind." Nathan pulled his hand away from Shilo, almost as if he didn't trust himself this angry near her.

"Do not talk about Marni. Do not talk about her at all. I kept my promise. I kept her safe. She was free of dangers which plague this world. The same dangers that you are shoving her into." his voice was hard, sentences clipped.

"She's better off with me now then when she was alone!"

"She was never alone."

"Did you think you were immortal, Doc? Really?"

"Immortal? No. I saw mortality every day of my life."

_There's a difference between witnessing mortality and coming to terms with your own._

"Other people's mortality, Doc, not yers." Graverobber countered, echoing his thoughts aloud, "Then you let her get herself hooked on Z, Good parenting decision." Shilo tensed in his arms, and she whimpered something that could have been a name, but Graverobber wasn't sure. Nathan had fixed Graverobber with a glare that no still living person had seen, the average look of his clothes (ones that looked remarkably like the one's Graverobber had been sporting just a few hours ago) into the familiar blacks of his Repo gear, a ghostly glint picked up at his side,

"Don't talk about my parenting. I just recently found I could speak…I also just found out I can move things…" the threat hung heavy in the air.

Worried about waking the kid essentially yelling at himself, Graverobber started stage whispering, his anger still apparent, but his voice actually quieter.

"Good for you. Wh'dya want, Doc? Didja just come in here ta do the father with the shotgun routine?"

"Something like that. It's more a Repo with a scalpel."

_Did he really just say that? How to go intimidating to lame in 2.7 seconds with Nathan Wallace. _

"At this point, Doc, it's gonna take a lot more than that to scare me. I just found out a little over an hour ago that I **didn't** actually watch Capt. Stabbity over at yer old job rape and butcher yer little girl in front of my eyes." Nathan's face when from vengeful spirit to simply dead,

"Ah..I know that look…"

"What look?"

"He's a fan of that one…"

"Doc, what er ya talkin' about?" Shilo shivered again and buried herself closer into the crook of his arm,

"'m cold…" she whimpered. Graverobber dragged the comforter up closer to her chin as he tried to arrange himself so that he was a little more comfortable, flinching as he pushed weight against his bad ankle. Nathan shook his head,

"The kids love to torture their play…the objects of their.. frustrations."

"Yeah well… apparently I gave them enough frustrations to last the week at least."

"You're lucky." Graverobber glanced down at himself and stared at Nathan as if he were stupid, but Nathan didn't seem to notice. "And you only had the week. Try seventeen years." The Repo coat faded from his visage again and Nathan for the first time almost looked a peace.

"Fuck that. It was bad enough every time my name was whined across the underbelly of the city."

"I did have a question for you…"

"I have an answer for you, but at this point it may be wrapped in several layers of sarcasm." Graverobber rubbed his hand across his face again as Shilo started to stir a little, "Sorry, Doc, you hafta remember I'm actually a little stoned right now."

"As cliché as it sounds: What are your intentions for Shilo? I was there when you kept saying no. I heard the line 'If I didn't care I would have shot you up and fucked your little virgin brains out by now.' I'm not pleased with any of that at all, but I heard what you said. I heard all of it."

_The kid'd be humiliated if she knew…_

_We won't tell her. She doesn't need to know._

"So: What do you want from her?"

"Let's get somethin' straight right off the bat, Doc, yer kid's not Amber. It's important that you know I know this, two completely separate categories." Nathan didn't look happy with the comparison, but he nodded. "'nd frankly, my mother 'nd yer wife taught me better than that."

"Ah yes, you _are_ the little pack rat…I like the blue in the hair, nice touch."

"Thanks, I needed a change.." Graverobber sighed and tried to think around the blue wall in his head, "Right now, my intensions are as follows, 1) take a fucking nap and possibly drink myself into oblivion for a day or two, 2) continue to keep yer kid offa Z 'nd make sure she doesn't hurt herself, 3) figger out what rat bastard is carving up people in alleys only to have them drop dead days or even hours later, 4) make sure my brains don't end up all over the same stage that was covered in yer's 'nd Maggie-bird's blood. Once those bases are covered, I'll let the kid make a choice."

"That being?"

"She can dump me on my ass like Maggie did 'nd 'll still be the creep making sure she's safe, warm and has flowers on her birthday. Or I stay."

"Dun..leave.." Shilo mumbled softly, tightening her death grip on him, "dun wanna… 'lone…" Nathan watched her, face blank but years of pain compressed in his eyes,

"I hate to say this…but I trust you…" Graverobber would have been less surprised if Nathan had punched him in the face,

"…I must be stoned…"

"Marni saw something in you. I let you in here a long time ago when I proposed to her and she was always a good judge of character. And truth be told…I did Shilo a disservice by keeping her in here, it kept her safe but she isn't aware of the way the world really works like you and I are."

"That doesn't mean you like having me here 'nd are gonna actually leave me alone wit yer little girl 'nytime soon, does it, Doc?"

"No."

"But it does mean yer not gonna off me the second I close my eyes, right?" he teased.

"Now what I was going to say way: I need you around to protect her. I need you around to keep her safe when I can't."

"I give you my word as an untrustworthy bastard."

"That all depends…"

"On what?"

"Did you mean what you told her? Did you mean it when you said you loved her?"

"Did you?"

"Answer. The. Question." Nathan growled. Graverobber glanced down to make sure Shilo was still asleep,

"Yeah, Doc, I did."

"Do you still?"

"Do you still love Marni?" It had been so long since he'd really said her name, the only person that he didn't have a nickname for, because she didn't need one. She was just, Marni, maybe Mama Marni if he felt like wanting to beat his own ass, but Marni all the same. Nathan nodded, "Why would it have changed?" Shilo sighed and stretched in her sleep before she relaxed into his arms, "Being shot up with my own stuff? Lover's Quarrel."

"I know how some people work…falling in and out of love like Amber changes outfits.."

"You know some people, Doc, not all. You know I dated Maggie-bird, yes?"

"Not really. I had heard but, never believed the Rumors…"

"I did."

"Good for you." Nathan didn't seem to understand, nor like the direction this conversation seemed to be taking.

"Makes sense that you didn't know though, one of the things that bound us was grief over yer wife." He glanced at the look on Nathan's face, "I'm getting to my point, Doc, wait for it."

"By telling me you dated an old friend of mine?"

"What I mean is, it goes back to what you said about promises. I swore to her she should have to perform alone." He glanced over at Mag who was still standing silently by the window, watching with the same rapt attention that she'd watched her plays. "I never missed a show."

"Then swear to me you will keep her safe."

"I don't need to make that oath to you, Doc, ta make it count. I need ta make it ta her." Shilo shifted a little, her hand finally relaxing out of his hair and falling back down onto his chest again.

"Then swear to me I can trust you. Unless you want to sleep with one eye open…"

"You can trust me to keep her from any real harm, Doc. I can't say you can trust me to keep her safe, because your definition of safe and mine are two different things." Shilo whimpered a little, half waking up,

"Graves…?"

"Don't worry, kid, I'm here." He stroked her shoulder with his fingers soothingly, "'m not goin' 'nywhere."

_I like how you can only be tender wit the kid while she's asleep and can't catch you doing it. _

A lazy smile drifted over her sleepy face,

"Pr'mise?" she asked as she drifted back to sleep.

"Yeah, kid, I promise." He glared straight at Nathan when he said it.

"Just keep her from harm…" Nathan muttered as Shilo's breath had swallowed again with sleep.

"With my last breath."


	14. Chapter 14

There'd been a softening at the edges of the Repo Man's face for a second, but it hardened again. Nathan had once again disappeared. The good doctor was able to sneak past the homicidal maniac once more after death to make sure his daughter, the only thing that he thought kept him alive and functioning for years was going to be safe. But, he was dead now. Hopefully, if there was a kind being somewhere, settling in with his beloved wife and wouldn't be bothering the world again.

But that didn't rid them of the fearsome specter that now sat at the end of the kid's white, fluffy bed; The dark cloud of malice and anger that was hovering much too close to where they were. The creature that wore the face of Nathan Wallace reached up and lowered the faceplate of its helmet. The blue lights even more terrifying with the ghostly lights then they ever had glowing out of the darkness of an alley.

Graverobber felt a shiver up his spine, even through the Z. It stood, clutching its phantom scalpel in one hand, looking too closely at the bed. Shilo shivered in her sleep and let out another terrified little whimper; it was obvious that she was caught in some sort of nightmare. Even through the helmet, the Repo Man looked, confused?

_Coward_, Graverobber thought to himself as he shook Shilo gently,

"Kid, kid it's okay. Kid wake up." While he shook the terrified girl, Graverobber's gaze never left Repo. Meaning he saw Mag walk forward, her tiny geisha steps in those ridiculous heels still managing to look hard, more determined then he'd seen her in years, if ever. She stood right in front of the Repo and looked up into the glowing gaze of its death mask.

"I think it's time you leave." Graverobber felt his eyes widen, he'd only heard that tone come from Maggie's mouth once before that was seconds before she'd died. Her final "fuck you" had sounded just like that.

"You don't give me orders." Repo snarled, brandishing his scalpel. If he wasn't so sure of what he could do with that blade, Graverobber would have said the spook looked like a B-movie horror villain, but even without being able to see his face, Graves felt that tingle of ice up his spine again.

Be careful, Maggie…

"You don't make decisions here anymore. The ties that held you here have been severed. Nathan is dead, and _you_ aren't welcome." Repo made another malicious move, only this time towards the bed and Shilo; he seemed to know that there wasn't much he could do to Mag and it wouldn't help alleviate its rage.

_Think, Graves, think! What reasons do people have to come back? Unfinished business, no wish to cross ov-_

_Revenge._

_That's it! _Graves struggled to sit up again, the kid still shaking and whimpering beside him. Waves of pain crawled under the numbing haze, making his vision black over.

"The people responsible for your destruction aren't here. They're back at that hellhole that employed your psycho ass; if you want revenge, go find them there. As for right now, get the FUCK out of my house!"

My house? Graves had managed to sit straight up, the kid still curled into his hip. He stared straight into the glowing visor, not blinking, not letting the pain show on his face or in his eyes. He could feel the glare though the mask, yet Repo chose this second to vanish. Simultaneously, Shilo's dark eyes snapped open wide and she cried out,

"No! Please not again…I-" Her eyes whipped around the room wildly, trying to remember where she was; she relaxed and threw her arms around Graverobber and buried her small face in his neck. Graverobber held her, still worried that he was going to break her if he breathed wrong. That had all been too close. It was almost as if she had felt the presence of the monster in her bedroom, yet her mind didn't want to make her awaken and realize the other part of her father that he'd kept buried so deep into his mind that it poisoned him.

"Wha's up, kid?" she shook her head against his skin,

_Ya know how easy it'd be fer her ta sink those pretty little teeth into yer neck?_

_Shut up, she's scared. _

"'nother bad dream… I…always get them since…" she pulled back slightly and shook her head again she seemed to be waking up a little more, "'m sorry…" Graverobber caught her and pulled her closer,

"Hey, nutin ta be sorry for, kid. Nutin at all." She was shaking and it was obvious that she was falling apart and had been for quite a while and all Nathan had done was stand by and watch. Even through his light blue haze, Graverobber felt a wave of rage build inside his chest.

_What the FUCK kind of father was he?_ He didn't consider himself a pacifist by a long shot, but the The wet feel of her tears on his neck snapped Graverobber out of his livid state, but even this was a little too deserbing.

"I…-Please don't leave me… I…everyone always leaves…" Graverobber felt a tiny stab in his heart at that,

Sounds familiar…

"Don't worry, kid, I ain't goin 'nywhere." Shilo nodded and pulled away, scrubbing at her cheeks and red-rimmed eyes with her hands, the black polish on her nails standing out sharply against her Snow White-like skin.

"I shouldn't bother you with this… it's stupid…" She squared her small shoulders and looked down at her hands where they'd dropped in her lap. With a noise that sounded like a cross between a sigh and a growl, Graverobber reached over and wiped the tears from under her eyes; her skin was almost icy under his thumb.

"Don't worry bout it, kid, Nightmares get ta everybody 'nd you've seen more inna year and a half then most people see in their whole lives." Shilo leaned her face into his thumb and shut her eyes, a few more tears leaked out from under her sooty lashes,

"I miss them so much, Graves. I didn't get enough time with Mag, or get to know Mom at all, but I miss them so much. Them and-" her voice cracked, "Dad.. I just.. everyone that comes near me ends up being taken away…" Graves looked over at where Mag still stood, holding herself upwards with a confident grace that had seemed to avoid her while she lived; Graves couldn't quite put his finger on it…

_Freedom suits her, that's all. After all, I think it's why she came back. To Help. _Graves gave her a look that clearly said, "what do I do?" over Shilo's head, but Mag just smiled a relatively teasing smile and spread her arms wide.

"Make your own decisions, Zydrate King. I'll be around." That being said, she faded subtly, not vanished the way Repo had.

Graves looked down at the trembling ball in his arms; she was feeling lost, alone, disconnected from the world…he knew of only one way to fix that. Without another thought, he reached down and tipped the kid's head back by her chin. She looked up at him with red rimmed eyes, the dark orbs seemed so lost even though she sat right here next to him.

"I ain't gonna leave ya alone, kid, don't worry."

_Not till I have to. _With that he pressed a kiss to her lips, slightly swollen from biting them while she tried to quiet her sobs. She whimpered breathlessly in the back of her throat, but kissed him back firmly. It seemed that she thought he was the only thing keeping her together and that the press of her lips was the only thing keeping him from floating away into the ether. Without thinking, Graves pulled her closer, even as she grabbed at his shoulders in an attempt to stop his not leaving.

"You won't leave?" she whispered against his lips before nipping at one with those tiny white teeth.

"Won't leave." He agreed, "Not even if ya tell me to." He once again started kissing down her neck, only to discover the lace that bound the nightgown to her body came half way up that creamy neck. He growled and pulled away, somehow resisting the urge to rip the delicate garment off her. But when he took the time to look down at her neck for a moment he thought he'd bitten her too hard and she'd started to bleed. Then he realized his lips were throbbing from more then kisses, the places where they'd split had opened again. It looked as though the kid was wearing bright red lipstick that had smudged and the gruesome effect trailed down her neck.

Silently cursing himself, Graves pulled away. Shilo let out a slightly annoyed, yet desperate whimper. She opened slightly unfocused eyes to look at him as he reached over and pulled the washcloth she'd previously been using on him from the bowl and used it to wipe the fresh blood from her skin.

The water had chilled as it sat there, nowhere near freezing, but cool. However the second he swiped it across her lips, Shilo shivered and he didn't think it was because she liked the feeling.

"'s cold." She whispered and tried to pull away.

"I know kid, relax, I got blood all over you." This seemed to break through her head as her eyes flew open wider and she started actually inspecting him. Her chilly fingers poked and trailed over his face.

"No more of that! You'll never heal…I don't want you to keep being in pain." As he wiped at a spot on her neck, Graves leaned in and growled in her ear,

"I'm in more pain when I don't get to touch you." The way he shifted to speak right into her ear made him all the more aware of how true a statement that was. A shiver shook through her, it was obvious now, the kid responded to tone, and quite deeply.

_This is gonna be fun._

It took quite a while and more then a few deep interested thoughts of tying the girl down and making her writhe without even touching her first, but finally the two settled down into bed. Shilo had drifted off first and immediately took to wrapping herself around him tighter then a bow on a Christmas gift. After several long, agonizing minutes of minuet twitches for him to get comfortable and in a position where he didn't feel like he was taking more liberties then he'd earned yet.

_You have __**never**__ considered that a liberty before. Not once. Okay.. maybe once or twice, but not in a long time. _

_Since Maggie? _

_Yeah.. okay you got me there. _

_I don't come across real ladies very often here anymore. Few actually deserve to have liberties earned. _

_You're officially stoned. Go to bed. _Ignoring is own good advice, Graves glanced down at the kid, to make sure she was actually asleep.

"Kid." He hissed. She didn't move, "Kid?" Nothing. "Shilo?" she nuzzled closer, but didn't show any signs of waking. That experiment completed, Graves moved on to the next one.

"Maggie-bird? You some place close?" There was no answer.

What? Is she sleeping too?

_If you make one joke about sleeping like the dead, I'm going to knock you out myself. _


	15. Chapter 15

"Kid, I don't think I have to explain how many different ways that I don't like this plan." It had been just over two weeks since the incident at GeneCo, the body count from the "Back Alley Surgeon" as he'd been so christened by the media, just continued rising; it was up to two or three bodies almost every day. Graverobber was healing; he could walk through the halls without too much trouble, though heading down the stairs to the kitchen was still a bitch. He could manage with a lot of swearing and growling, but he could walk down the stairs under his own power, damnit.

Currently, Shilo was standing at the foot of her bed; his vials and holsters spread across the comforter, and was working the straps to fit her tiny frame. He found out that while he'd fallen asleep, she'd snuck out the crypt and had gone gathering all by herself. He'd nearly hit the ceiling when he found this out, but she tried to placate him by telling him that she'd only ventured into the mass graves and had had only one issue when she'd tripped on a particularly slippery body. Now she was sitting here telling him she was going out to do his job!

"I really don't want ya goin out there." Shilo barely looked up from what she was doing, looping on of two belts through all his leathers. Tongue between her teeth trying to figure out how to them go.

"Tough. You're in no shape to go out and honestly, we could use the money. Plus. I might be able to catch sight of whoever's gone all Jack the Ripper on the Island." Graves was sitting carefully on her piano bench, watching this scene like he wasn't sure it was really happening.

"Which would exactly one of the reasons that I don't want you going out there alone!" She quickly stripped out of her skirt, pulling a pair of her dad's baggy BDUs on and stuffing the pant legs into her boots. Graves felt his mouth go dry as he watched this quick change. It seemed that as long as he kept his mouth shut, his kid didn't have a care in the world, be that care clothing or otherwise. Next she began to weave the leathers up and onto herself like a seamstress with a human doll.

"Well someone has to clear your name. And I can't let anyone else get hurt. I'm going out. You're staying in." Her face tightened into an expression he'd learned well, it was her "you can't change my mind so don't even bother trying or I might eat you" face.

"I can at least come with ya, then." He got up haltingly, only pausing for a moment as he stretched to his full height, cursing softly, then giving her his patented smirk. Being up wasn't so bad; being down hadn't really been an issue, the transition between the two however was excruciating. Shilo's dark eyebrow arched, her delightful hips cocked as she buckled his gear onto her with the first, then second belt buckle.

"No." Stretching up to her full height, tucking her shirt into her pants, then a putting a vest over it. "You're hurt. And I know criminals are like predators. And I know predatory behavior. I've read enough. You look like prey. Which means you going out there might not get just you killed. It might get me killed too. And I know you don't want that, Right Graves?" She flashed him a cute pout.

_ Damnit._

He growled a little to himself, she was right of course. He couldn't even think of any other real valid arguments, except that he was worried.

_ Which I should think is a valid argument._

_ You can't sway her, don't even try. Just do your best to keep her safe anyways. _He sighed deeply and walked over to where his coat was hanging on the post of her bed.

"Take this." He grabbed it down and wrapped it around her slim shoulders. It was ridiculously huge on her, but it would mark her as his, "You're right about them being predictors, this'll help keep you safe." he paused sensing a possible problem, "what are you going to say if they ask where I am?" Shilo grinned, nuzzling into the fur of his coat and inhaling his scent. Giving him a smirk to rival his own, she half purred half growled out.

"I'll tell them that I rode you so hard you couldn't find your legs let alone your head enough to deal. So like a good girl, I took care of it for you." As suddenly as the smoky visage appeared, it vanished to be replaced by the kid's usual, innocent look "That'll... work... right?"

"Y-Yeah, kid, that'll-" He gulped, "Work." Maybe no other part of his body or mind would again until he'd made that statement a reality, but it would certainly work for a story. He swept her up in his arms, pulling her close and nuzzling into her neck. The fur of his jacket tickled his face as he opened his lips and took a bit of her soft skin into his mouth. He sucked and teased for a minute, praying he was being careful enough as not to hurt her. He pulled away, making sure that even with the jacket on the mark was clearly visible on her white neck. It was; that coupled with the kiss-swollen lips made her story much more believable. Shilo was swooning when he pulled away, so he took advantage of her pliant state, "Remember, kid, quick and efficient. If ya ain't home by midnight, I'm gonna come lookin' for ya. Don't let anyone hustle ya and don't take any shit from anyone. One of them starts to mouth off more then you can handle, look bored and pack up and leave. They'll be back."  
His kid gave a soft whimper and coo before nodding happily.

"No one's gonna touch your girl, promise." That sweet voice dark with a touch of lust. She didn't even seem to realize she called herself His Girl. "Any other tips?"

Graves couldn't help but smirk deeper at her admission of being his girl.

"Just remember, you're the biggest and the baddest. You're dating the biggest and the baddest. All peons bow before you. Get it?" He cupped her cheek in his hand for a minute, shocked at how tiny she was there,

"Who I'm dating? I don't remember you making anything official?" She gave him a sly little smile, her cheeks aflame.

His eyebrow shot up, but his smirk gave way to a bit of a grin. "Fine, might as well do this right, before I throw ya to the lions. Whadya say, kid, make a dishonest criminal outta me? Be my girl?" he gave her his trademark smirk, "After all, I've been sleepin in yer bed fer weeks."  
_Open mouth, insert yer whole damn leg, asshole. Way to ruin it._

"Always and forever..." she blushed more. "No more Zaddicts are touching you or I shoot their hearts up till they bleed blue." Those dark eyes were stern and 'tough'. "I'm yours if you're mine." Graves schooled his face as best he could; so few people in his life had wanted him so much, let alone willing to fight for him. Now this tiny little girl was more then willing to stand up to drug addicts at least half again her size just to keep him for herself. He snapped her up in his arms, her boots actually dangling in the air for a second as he kissed her hard. She let out a little whimper; the fact that he couldn't tell if it was of pleasure or pain was the only reason he set her down. Leaning in close he growled in her ear,

"Might wanna get outta here before I come to my senses, toss you back on that bed and give you at least ten good reasons not to go through with this." Those roses on her cheeks darkened when he mentioned tossing her on the bed. She gave him a quick nuzzle before stretching up to full Shirobber glory.

"I'll see you soon, honey, promise."

_It's been too long. I have to go out and find her. She was supposed to be back by now! What could have happened?_

It was now 12:07.

Graves was pacing the front hall, circling around all entrances of the house, waiting for her return; there was no way she could have slipped past him. His ankle was screaming in pain, but he ignored it. If he tried to just sit and wait, he'd tear himself apart from the inside. He wasn't used to this level of protectiveness, he hadn't felt this way in years. Frankly, he was acting crazy and he hadn't even slept with his kid yet.

Yet here he was, bonded, _**dating **_for Gods sakes, waiting for her to get in like a paranoid husband.

_Yeah… that's going a little far. You're on Boyfriend status, don't try to bury yourself deeper then you need to._

He nearly gave himself whiplash when he heard a key in the front door. She came wandering in, Graves looked at her up and down.

Vials mostly empty.  
Gun, belts, holsters still there.  
Still swimming in the jacket.  
No tears in her eyes, they weren't red from crying.  
No bruises other then the ones he'd left before she'd gone out.  
She didn't look shell-shocked or heartbroken.

_Is she humming? Of course she's humming! _Graves couldn't tell if he wanted to hug the kid or strangle her.  
"Ya'll right, kid?"  
"Oh, hey Graves!" She seemed oddly perky, concidering she'd just spent hours just shooting up addicts with a glowing drug. She was holding her boots in her hand, her feet had probably gotten sore from the walk over. She strolled right up to him, she stood on her tip toes and gave him a long and passionate kiss before looking up in confusion when he barely kissed her back. "What's wrong?" A pause... "Why are you down here and not in bed?"

"Told ya I'd be waitin' up for ya, kid. I was worried. I was almost ready to head out to find ya."  
"Why am I..." she paused, then a guilty look dawned on her face, "Late. Oh Graves I'm sorry." Wrapping her arms around his waist, she stood up on her toes to nuzzle in his neck. "I didn't mean to, it's just we got to talking..."He wrapped his arms around her waist so she wouldn't be stretching as far, then paused and looked at her.

"'We got to talking'? We who, we?"  
"Oh, Blue and Ari. We got to talking about Ari's little girl and then Shanna mentioned how she heard that Leah was seeing another dealer. And then Jinx got to talking about what he saw by GeneCo and it just became this big thing..."  
It took a full minute for what she just said to sink past the stunned wall in Graves' brain.  
"What?"

"The girls in the alley, silly."


	16. Chapter 16

" _"What?" _

_ "The girls in the alley, silly." " _

_Wait.. so does this mean…_

_ Of Course she was bonding with the Drug Addicts!_

"Next yer gonna tell me you've invited them fer dinner…" the words were out of his mouth and in the air before he could fully think about what he'd just said.

"Well yeah, they're due here Tuesday. Ari's even going to bring her daughter and I'm really excited! I finally get to cook for a full house." Shilo was absolutely beaming, her excitement causing her to miss the slight level of sarcasm in Graves' voice. She wandered up to her room, starting to dislodge the leathers on her way, happily chirping about what she needed to get ready, what things she wanted to make. Graves followed behind her, a little dumbstruck.

"I think a nice stew would be good, right Graves? They seem like they could use a nice hot, stick-to-your-bones meal." Graverobber leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, one ankle laced over the other. He'd taken to wearing his boots in the house again because the buckles and plates helped keep his ankle from jarring around too much when he wandered.

"Yeah, kid, sounds great…" he was trying to be excited for her, he really was. But the thought of letting those people in her house, letting them see where he was living… Yeah, he'd be willing to admit not all of the Zaddicts were bad people. Pick your sad-but-true story; low self-esteem, parents didn't pay them enough or maybe too much attention, couldn't handle the pressure of day-to-day life.

Though it was untrue that all Scalpel Sluts worked as prostitutes, not all of them held productive places in society. Many held regular 9-5 jobs, had families or kids; in fact quite a few of his most frequent customers day-lighted as GeneCo's own GENterns. Mothers and Homemakers who slipped on ripped lingerie and snuck out, just needing a little something blue to help get them through one more family dinner, one more round of PTA meetings.

Graves realized he'd lost himself in thought because he blinked and suddenly the kid was standing right in front of him, leathers and jacket removed and hung on the bedpost, her head cocked to the side watching him and looking worried.

"Graves? Are you okay?" he jerked out of his thoughts and gave her a half grin,

"Yeah, kid, I'm fine. All this talk about food's sorta making me hungry." Perfectly logical explanation.

_Perfectly expressed Lie._

What?

_Nothing. Don't listen to me; you never do, so why start now?_ Her eyebrows were still knotted together like she didn't completely believe him,

"O-okay. Whatever you say…Want to go scrounge something up to eat?"

"You do know she's smarter then the child you perceive her as, right?" Mag's voice came from behind him, Graves resisted the reaction to jump a little at the sudden proximity. It'd been days since Shilo first ventured out into the world of drug peddling and had been out twice more both to harvest and sell. She wasn't allowed to do both in the same night anymore after how much pain she was in when she went to bed that morning, and how tired she was. He hadn't seen Mag since the two of them had broken him out of GeneCo.

He turned to face her, she was still clean faced, but she was still wearing her feathered corset and tulle train. Forever trapped in the costumes she was forced to live in.

"I don't see her as a child." Graves protested, Mag just arched a graceful eyebrow.

"Then why refer to her as such?" Eyes widening just a bit, Graves stared at the Opera Star blankly for a bit. What was she talking about? When he asked her, her only response was,

"If you don't know, then I won't tell you." With that tracing hint of a smile that had always annoyed him.

Is this the feeling people get when I smirk like that?

_The overwhelming urge to hit you? Yes. _Graves rubbed his face with one hand and couldn't help but let out a little growl.

"Isn't it about time for you to let your God-daughter in on your being here?" he glanced up at her, his trademark smirk barely hidden by his hand against his face. "After all, it's not polite since you are her 'guest'."

Got her on the good manners. Along with her grace and gentle demeanor, Mag was always polite and well behaved. It was why Rotti had never seen her defiance coming.

_People will always surprise you when they've had enough. After all, when it comes right down to it, we're all just animals and we don't like being kept in cages._

Mag actually stopped, that teasing smile fading from her face, replaced with one of mingled worry and hope.

"You may be right…" she drew herself up to her full height, which in those boots was quite a sight and her pleasant mask slid into place. A real sign that she was nervous; Graves stepped forward without thinking, muscle memory taking over. He reached up and brushed her bangs off her face, tenderly remembering this look, it was the same stance she got right before every performance, every event. This was Mag's brave face.

"What are you worried for? She loved you and still does." Mag gave him a little glare for seeing right through her, she always did, but she smiled nonetheless.

"Graves? Who are you talking to?" Shilo's voice came from the doorway; it looked as though she'd been standing there for a minute and her face was hard to read.

"You're Godmother."

_Subtle as a brick, you jackass._

_It's like ripping the Band-Aid off real quick?_

"_Hey kid! Your dead Godmother, the one you idolize but have never really got a chance to spend time with? She's totally standing right in front of me." Just see how well this goes over. _

Graves realized his hand was still resting against Mag's cheek, something he hadn't even realized. He let his hand drop as Shilo came across the room to stand beside him, her hand brushed his and she looked sad.

"Oh, Graves… I miss her too…"

_Go ahead, we both know you want to. I couldn't stop you even if I wanted to. _

"No, kid, like I'm talking to her right now. She's standing right here."

Shilo's head snapped up and she looked at him strangely, eerily like he'd lost his mind.

"Graves…how long have you been having hallucinations? After trauma like you sustained these are things you need to tell me."

"No, kid she's really there! Maggie-bird, tell her, please?" He grabbed for her hands, pleading. He could handle being a criminal, he could handle being a poor excuse for a human being, but his mind was always something he took pride in. He couldn't have the kid thinking he was crazy, couldn't have her thinking he'd lost it, especially that he'd lost it at the hands of the Freakshow that nearly ran the whole damn world.

Of course his hands went straight through hers, no comfort there; but she smiled at him tenderly. There was a brief pause; Mag even flickered in Graves' sight for a moment, but suddenly he heard a gasp from beside him, alerting him to the fact that the kid could see her now too.

"…Mag?" she whispered, "How…when…?"

"She's been here since we were in GeneCo. She helped keep me sane until you rescued me." He smiled down at Mag and wrapped one arm around Shilo's shoulders. His kid and his Maggie-bird.

The two girls had disappeared for the rest of the night, Shilo talking excitedly a mile a minute as she tried to drag Mag up the stairs; but settled for leading the way. And while Mag had become a much more frequent addition in their lives, Shilo started to get quieter. She was much more focused on the upcoming dinner for her new Zaddict friends. She continued going out at night, either to harvest or sell. Graves could barely get an argument across edgewise anymore.

Sure, since he'd moved in they'd fallen into a quiet routine, but it was a comfortable silence, not like this one. This one was silent, making it feel like the tomb that was connected to the house. Shilo ended up talking with Mag a lot, quietly, finally having the "girl-talk" that she never got growing up.

Graves was just setting the dishes in the drainer to dry when he heard the door click. He wiped his hands on his cargos and wandered out to meet her.

_Regular househusband you've become huh? The Zydrate King reduced to a mere Kitchen Boy. _

_I'm so in no mood for your bullshit tonight._

As he drew closer, he saw tears standing out in the kid's eyes, but it was obvious that she was trying so hard to keep them in.

"Kid? Kid what happened?" Shilo shook her head, almost like she didn't trust her voice. She dropped his holsters and coat on the floor near the door; then moved with the air of hurry but with painfully slow steps up the stairs. She held tight to the banister as Graves watched, a knot of worry clenching in his stomach and chest. She always treated his things with a kind of mis-placed reverence; she'd never just throw them down like schoolbooks on the first day of summer. Graves swept up the stairs after her, the hardware could wait. But she was already in the bathroom, door shut and the shower on. Graves tried the knob, but of course it was locked. He knocked,

"Kid?"

"Go Away." Came the response, but the water made it hard to judge the tone of her voice through the heavy wood of the door.

"Kid, what's up?"

"Can you just, leave me alone for now? I'll be out later."

What's up with her?

_Female problems? I don't know; just go get her bed ready to be slept in. She'll want to crash when she comes out. _This seemed the best plan since it was more then obvious that she wasn't going to let him in or even talk to him until after her shower.

Bed: Made.

Covers: Un-tucked and plentiful.

Lights: Dimmed.

Bedside Table: Cookie-d.

Pillows: Fluffed.

He might not be very savvy when it came to around the house things, but when it came to clicking into what a girl liked and wanted quickly, Graves had a pretty decent handle on things. He sat on the edge of the bed, heel jiggling in its heavy boot as he waited for her to come back.

Sometime later, Shilo came in, wrapped in a large fluffy white towel, her cheeks bright pink from the water, head down, wig in place. A bolt of lust shot through Graves as she walked in, not even bothering to worry that she wasn't wearing much.

"Kid, come here." He tried to keep his voice from showing exactly how much he was enjoying the view. She didn't even argue, she just came over and stood in front of his knees, one hand buried in the front of the towel to hold it closed, through the flash of high thighs every time she took a step was more then distracting. He put these thoughts on the back burner for now and reached out and took her small, white hands in his own rough ones, "What's up? Are ya okay?" She started to nod, but tears threatened to overspill her eyes again.

"I can't…" she whimpered, the tone of her voice broke the heart Graverobber hadn't been completely sure he still had.

"Can't what, kid you ain't gotta do shit. Come lay down, here." He pushed her thick pile of blankets a little further away so she could crawl in. She shook her head,

"Everything hurts… why won't it stop?" her voice hitched and it broke Graves' heart again.

The Withdrawals.

How could he have let it slip his mind? She'd been working so hard lately taking care of his sorry, weakened ass. Here she'd been crawling through bodies, drawing Z from their skulls; walking a mile or so to and from his main alley almost every night; preparing for her dinner party to make the lives of a few addicts better for a brief shining moment. Above all, she'd been keeping a straight face, a brave face. She hadn't said a word about anything.

_I'm the worst human being, ever. _

_Jack the Ripper ain't got nutin' on you, boy. _

_Shut up. _

"Kid, come here, lay down." He gave her hands a gentle tug, barely more then a slight pressure. Not bothering getting dressed or even letting go of his hands, Shilo allowed herself to be helped into bed. She curled up on her stomach amid her stuffy army; Graves rotated on the bed and started to rub her bare back with one hand. "I can tell ya've been carryin' the world. There's knots the size of baseballs in these little shoulders of yours." He was teasing, trying to get her to smile. "Want me to get them for you?" she shook her head into the pillow,

"Not now.. just.. lay down? I'm so tired…" Graves shifted a bit more and stretched out next to her, his dark pants and leather boots a stark contrast from her white blankets and sheets. "But I have so much to do still…"

"Like what?"

"Finish cleaning the house, your stock's getting low, I need to sell tomorrow night.. and I still need to go to the store and get the food and start cooking…and-" she let out a groaning growl.

"Hey, hey, hey…easy. You don't need to go out and do my job anymore."

"But your-"

"No. I'm puttin' my foot down, kid. I'm fine, no lasting trama. I can do take care of harvesting and selling again. So that's two down. As for cleaning and goin' to the store, we can go to the store together tomorrow, after you've slept and yer feeling better."

_Okay… maybe this wasn't the best plan I've ever had. _Graves was standing in front of Shilo's full-length mirror feeling ridiculous. He was still wearing his own pants, but they weren't tucked into his boots as they usually were and he was wearing only his dark blue tee shirt. Frankly, he was feeling quite exposed considering how much clothing he usually wore out. His face was washed clean of all his greasepaint and his hair was brushed out and braided back off his face.

_I look like a tool._

_Yeah. I'm not even gonna argue. _

"Graves?"

"In here, kid." Shilo came wandering into the room, a blond dreaded wig in place on her head, her legs incased in a pair of black leggings and she was wearing a longer purple tee-shirt with a cat's skeleton on the front as a dress. She froze when she came into the room and stared at him for a minute. "What?"

"Y-you look really different."

"Yeah, I look like a jackass."

_Yes, yes you do. _Instead of agreeing, Shilo walked forward, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

"Different doesn't mean bad."

A/N: Slightly longer chapter as I build steam back up again. Thanks for baring with me guys. Lots of plot to come! Remember Reviews let me know I'm doing something right!


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